Picking and Choosing Tales of Hogwarts Romance
by Richard Segreto
Summary: Illy has just begun her first year of Hogwarts, but before Christmas break comes around she has pried apart what seemed to be the very foundations of the school, eating breakfast with Gryffindor's, at the Slytherin table, and even charming Snape!
1. Prologue

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance)

(AN: I am now searching for a beta-reader or two, willing to preventing me from making horrible and tedious mistakes like the ones I dealt with last time, if you're interested please let me know.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this story, excluding one's not featured in the books)

Killious stood rigid, looking more like a zombie than a student; she was dazed, and frankly scared to death, as she moved closer and closer to the front of the line. This was supposed to be her third year at Hogwarts, but her adoptive parents had fought tooth and nail to keep her out of school this long. She was their pride, advanced beyond most fifth or sixth years in defense against the dark arts as well as the arts themselves, accomplished at difficult and delicate potion construction and the care of plants with magical properties, fluent in English, French, Italian, Latin, Arabic, and Czech, amply prepared for any muggle studies classes, knowledgeable in the history of magic and magicians, able to transfigure almost anything and even working on trying to learn to transfigure herself, certified in astronomy and future prediction, owner of several very rare and difficult to handle pets, and even a brilliant broomsman, and all thanks to her parents "hands on training", some very expensive tutors and her work for Gringott's.

Both of her parents had, at one point, taught at Hogwarts, her mother, who was a ravishing slytherine, had overseen care of magical creatures for one year and potions for a semester when Snape was out, around a year before Killious was born. Her father, who was a chaser for ravenclaw, had taught defense against the dark arts for two years, before deciding they both needed to spend more time in the field studying magical plants, animals, new potions, and anthropology in foreign and historical wizarding cultures. Her parents work had brought Illy to five different continents, and hundreds of countries around the world. While her parents meticulously uncovered artifacts or studied patterns of flora and fauna life she spent her time split between work, lessons with eccentric and cruel, but none the less brilliant teachers, and various escapades that usually ended in more than one broken bone and a night or two in a local detainment facility.

"Damn it, if they could get me out of a year of actual classes at Hogwarts, why couldn't they freaking get me a private sorting?! I mean really this is far worse than being the Gringott's messenger, except maybe for the time I had to deliver the Giant's cheese. For Heaven's sake, who ages cheese for a thousand years? Oh, and the smell, it was so thick, stayed on my robes for six months, I'm still not sure how my broom could hold up ninety pounds of cheese and me so well, but who cares. Actually, now that I think about it...where is my broom? I flew it here and put it somewhere in the forest...but where. I'll ask Hargrid to help me find it I guess..." The more nervous she became the more her thoughts scattered around her mind, randomly jumping from one association to the next. "Caron, Lauren" was called to the front of the room. There were now only two letters until her name was to be called, and she nervously played with her fingers as she lost herself in attempts at self consolation.

She knew almost all the staff at Hogwarts, as she had delivered things to them on a regular basis, excluding Dumbledore who had been over for dinner a few times; which consisted of her parents coming up with some blatant lie as to why she would need to be staying home for another semester, followed shortly by some exotic dessert over which her father, Vladimir, and her mother, Annabelle, would blather on about some new breakthrough they had discovered. Killious would then receive an overly maternal "Off to bed with you muffin, before you're up to late…we'd hate for you to be distracted by exhaustion during your studies!" and her parents would sit with Dumbledore over tea, discussing Killious' attendance date as though they were haggling over fruit at a road-side stall.

Snape loved Illy because in spite of her policy to check every package to ensure proper care, or just take a peak at everyone's business, no delivery made was genuinely tampered with, or reported to the ministry of magic, no matter how illegal the position of said item may have been. Sprout was enchanted by her vast knowledge of plant life and her willingness to ensure that no plant was harmed or lost in transition, even if it meant donating blood to a vampirical, blood iris. McGonagall did not share such a fondness of Illy however, she was convinced that the girls upbringing had not truly taught her anything, and was in fact, a great waste of time, "that has only instructed young Miss Enquirous to be flighty, dangerous, and convinced of her own intellectual brilliance, when in fact she is nothing but a normal student, who will not receive any special treatment in my class!". Flitwick on the other hand, always enjoyed the little cakes that she would sneak him from Honeyduke's and usually thanked her for being so speedy with deliveries, by passing around bits of gossip that everyone was sure he had not even heard. Binns and Hooch both loved how inquisitive she was as to their very different subjects. Thought she first thought Binns would be boring she loved to hear about the history of witches and wizards, even if it took two or three times to get a story down, because she had dozed into a slumber during one part of another. Hooch was even more insistent than Dumbledore on the girl's attendance due to the fact the she was an advanced flyer by occupation, and had sent her a welcoming note and a list of open positions for each house team the day she was notified Illy would be attending.

"Killious Enquirus" The name echoed off the walls as she closed her eyes, took a big breath and stepped forward. She walked slowly up to the platform and, though her palms were now slick with salty nervous sweat, she made it up the steps and under the sorting hat with feigned confidence. _So, what shall it be for you?, smart indeed, a head full of questions...perhaps Ravenclaw, but justice does shine, and your loyalty is not to be matched, Hufflepuff could work, you're brave as well though, as you have demonstrated to Gringott's. Gryffindor would be lucky to have you, and yet, I see that your determination in the spite of your past, this is defiantly pushing you towards Slytherin. _Killious relaxed a little and talked a bit to the hat in a quiet, yet self-assured voice "Looks like you'll just have to make up a new house for me" The Sorting hat let out a chuckle that resounded through the room, she could feel the eyes of the whole school on her, bearing into her body like bullet holes. _That would make this easier, but tell me Illy_ _what house do you desire to be in? _"Well I'm not really sure, I'm actually kind of afraid no matter where I go I won't exactly receive a warm welcome, I'm two years late coming hear, and I don't even have the excuse of being a transfer" _What house will bring out all of your traits, keep you from being bored, because I know that's a challenge for you, and yet keep the other houses from talking about how late you are?... Do you have any friends you want to be with? _"No, I don't really know anyone here, just the teachers, and some of them already hate me..." _Well I'm not sure about Slytherin, it might make it hard to be friends, and I think you might scare most of the Hufflepuff students. The Gryffindor's would be upset at how hard you fight against everything, and Ravenclaw would think you should spend more time studying, whether or not you need it. We might really have to make a whole new house for you. _Illy and the sorting hat both let out a chuckle at this, but the fact that she must have been on stage for minutes now was worrying her, and she had begun to play with her fingers absent mindedly _Oh, don't concern yourself with that, Harry was here for quite a while too. I see that you know much about him; I'll want to know how you get along with him. Tell you what, I'm going to put you in Slytherin, I think it will be best for you, but always make sure that you stretch all of your ability's as though you were in every house, and tell McGonagall that you have been given permission to talk with me whenever you please, even after hours, tell her that I am kept on the fifth floor in the room behind the old bicycle and broom race painting. Now you come visit me often and enjoy Hogwarts! _"I know I will, and I promise I'll come see you as often as I can" She smiled softly and the hat leapt off of her head shouting,

"_SLYTHERIN!" _She stood up and headed for the table. Where applause had broken out for every other student the room was silent for Illy, no set of eyes in the room could be torn away from her, as she swaggered to the Slytherin table and took a seat…

(AN: I hope you enjoyed the prologue, R&R, -Richard S.)


	2. 1 Getting Aquainted

AN: Sorry for the length of this, I was originally going to make it part of the prologue, but changed my mind last minute

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 1

(AN: The next chapter will be substantially longer, I promise!)

She plopped down next to a ravishing boy; he had curly black hair that rested softly around his face, startling green eyes with thick, long lashes, a smooth feminine face, and was obviously of Hebrew descent.

"So what the hell did you do to the sorting hat? Were you molesting him or what?" He said in a smooth yet callous voice. I looked at him and with sarcasm dripping from every word replied quite promptly.

"Of course! It was all I could do not to scream and moan, he sent me to Slytherin because he said that this house was the best for a good fuck!" He laughed a little, as did the boy with white-blond hair across from me, who currently had something that looked like a girl attached to his arm.

"Well he wasn't lying" The brunette replied moving closer to her, in a maneuver that had started out trying to look debonair but ended in his looking like an oversized bird of prey. She just smirked and introduced herself, while doing her best to lean in the opposite direction of her neighbor.

"My names Killious Q. Enquirus, you can just call me Illy though, like Lilly, but without the L." The blond raised an eyebrow but shrugged and put his hand out to shake hers.

"Draco Malfoy, call me what you will. I'm a pure blood how 'bout you"

"Not sure actually, never really cared so I just never looked to see" She replied with a shrug.

"So why can't we call you Kill instead of Illy, or what about Choir? They're both in your name, oh and my name is Dolan, pure blood." The brunette boy next to her inquired.

"Well Dolan, if you want you can call me Kill, but my last name is something I don't want to be tied to so drop the Choir, and what's your name?" She asked a dark skinned boy on the other side of her.

"Oh, umm my name right…my name is Jackquinn Frost, and I'm a muggle-born..." He had an English accent, and sharp nose and jaw line, eyes that were so blue they almost looked white, with a thin ring of grey around the edges, which only made his chocolate brown skin seem even more luminescent.

Draco looked at him with a cold stare and sneered "Than why are you in _our_ house?"

Jackquinn just sat there, a look of panic on his face. Killious turned her attention back to Draco.

"He's here because Slytherin needs good wizards to make up for you." She snapped. Draco looked as though someone had just fed him a vomit every flavor bean. He stared for a moment but then replied,

"Well than, I guess they'll need a whole army to balance out the deficit you cause."

"It _would_ take an army to defeat the likes of me so I guess you're right."

"Stupid girl"

"Snobby Brat"

"Pretentious little whore"

"Was that for me or the thing attached to your arm?" Draco was fuming at this comment, and Jackquinn looked quite happy at the moment, while most of the other people at the table where trying to suppress laughter. By the time she had finished fighting with Draco the feast had begun. Draco mumbled under his breath while he, and nearly everyone else at the table, shoveled food on to their plates. Killious looked squeamish, as she stared at all the food around her. After she had spent two weeks in a hospital recovering from a concussion when she was eleven she had lost virtually all will to eat any sort of real meal. The doctors blamed in on damage to parts of her brain that triggered a desire to eat, she shook off the memories and reached for the salad to her left, and tried to spread the lettuce and toppings about so that no one would notice how little she had taken. In the end it looked like the attempt was failing, because Draco had quickly taken notice, and though she tried to reach for a dinner role, he was ready to take advantage of the oddity she had presented him.

"What are you anorexic; afraid a little food will ruin your figure"

"At least I have one"

"I didn't know that large sphere of fat was a figure girls wanted"

"I didn't know that there were still self-righteous bastards in the world who thought it was ok to talk with their mouth full or guzzle gravy as a beverage."

"I guess some people just have no taste in food"

"I guess some people just have no taste at all, now if you're done spraying me with turkey, I'd like to enjoy my meal." She smirked at Draco and continued picking at the pieces of romaine lettuce and cucumber on her plate with disinterest. She knew that this day would not be different from any other, she would end up eating seven or eight times, consuming little to nothing each "meal", only to find herself cramping with hunger pains again two hours later. It was a fact she dealt with everyday. When she was recovering from her hospital stay at home her parents spent weeks devising a meal plan for her, trying to balance the right amounts of each food just to keep her from withering away, they found success in the fact that when she did eat her little bits of nothing, she would eat little bits of virtually anything, so they stressed vegetables and grains more than anything, skirting anything with sugar or much meat in it all together.

After the feast was finally over the students stood to head back to the dorms behind The Bloody Baron, there was a murmur over all of the students as they made their way through the dungeons, Illy stood waiting as the password for the dorm was given, tapping her foot as Malfoy and Dolan made jokes, looking back in her direction every now and then. As everyone crowded into the common room she drifted off into her thoughts to block out the loud obnoxious noises that had filled the room around her. She noticed several students around the room that had begun to point in her direction already and decided that perhaps she could stand being in another house, even if it only meant that they would be more politely secretive with their irrational stories as to who she was and where she came from. She quickly ducked out of the way; as several first years began to run around the room shooting off sparks from their wands in celebration of the first night in their new home.

As she headed out the door she noticed someone quietly following several feet behind her, a quick dodge into the girls' bathroom and she assumed they'd be gone. Illy waited two or three minutes before leaving, washing her hands vigorously four or five times while she waited. The spirited, sometimes painful, washings seemed to be another repercussion of the injury. She washed forcefully five or six times a day, making her palms a dark pink color, and leaving them sensitive to any rough materials they may touch. She was not as thorough with all of her bathing, but she was more methodical and meticulous than most people, her showers were usually thirty or forty minutes a piece easily, thanks to the extra time the cleaning took.

After drying her hands and blowing gently on any parts of her palms that stung, Illy peeked out the door in each direction before heading out. Her pursuer was waiting, "Alright, what do you want Malfoy?" She loudly questioned the empty hall way.

(AN: I hope you enjoyed reading, please R&R if you liked it, I'd love to get some constructive criticism! –Richard S.)


	3. 2 Snogging with Strangers

AN: This one is a little longer, enjoy

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 2

(AN: I told you that I would make this one longer, have fun)

"I want to know what it is you're doing out of the dorms after hours." He said with a smug look on his face, as he stepped out from a doorway, into the torch illuminated hallway.

"Well, I was just on my way to go see professor McGonagall, I happen to have some information I need. Not to mention I need to tell her you're wandering about the castle."

"Oh, shut up, you seem smart enough to respect a Malfoy! you wouldn't tell...would you?"

"No. Now go away, I'm going to see the sorting hat."

"What do you mean? You can't go 'see the sorting hat' they put him up for the rest of the year" Draco Malfoy was now padding softly down the hallway, almost as if he was following Killious Enquirous. As he began to jog a little to keep up with her the thought hit him.

"I know, but he told me where they keep him and asked me to come see him." Illy replied, quickening her pace ever so slightly, before remembering that she was several inches taller than Draco, meaning her quick strides were a slow jog to him.

"Sure, and I'll just run back to the dorms and claim my throne as queen of the fairies." Malfoy gestured and sneered trying to take control of the situation.

"Ughhh, can't you just leave me alone, you annoying pain in my arse!" She said, even though she had now slowed down a bit, so that he could keep up with her. Draco took note of the gesture and smirked, he had gotten her to accommodate him, he was the important one gain.

"Fine, I'll go, but you owe me for this, I don't think that other's will be so sympathetic towards your odd choice of friends." Draco said before heading back towards the dorm, he tucked his hands into his pockets and smiled before turning around, at which point his smile disappeared and was swiftly replaced by a look of utter confusion.

It took only a little longer to reach professor McGonagall's office. Killious knocked on her door softly; almost afraid she would begin yelling, just as she had done so many times around Mr. and Mrs. Enquirus when they claimed that their daughter was receiving proper education at home.

"Yes, come in." Her stern and yet warm voice came from behind the door.

"Good evening Professor McGonagall," Illy began as she nodded her head in the Professor's direction, before taking a seat in front of her desk. "I was just going to tell you that the Sorting hat requested I visit him, he said to tell you he was on the fifth floor behind a picture of a bicycle and broom racing" McGonagall didn't look pleased, but she pursed her lips and nodded her head non-the-less. Illy quickly left the office and headed for the stairs, trying to be as silent as possible, Filch was Filch, even if you had legitimate business to be in restricted areas. When she reached the fifth floor Illy asked a painting of a very hairy dwarf if he knew which way the bicycle and broom was. The Dwarf just laughed a very wet laugh...

"Well little missy, you're on the wrong floor for that, that's on the seventh deary."

"But I was told it was on the fifth" Illy complained, becoming irritated with how long her errand was taking. "Oh, the room behind the painting is on the fifth floor, but to reach it, well all of it, you must head to the seventh."

Killious looked a bit puzzled but headed to the stairs again even so. As she finally reached the seventh floor, which ended up taking fifteen minutes due to the stairs complaints about being walked all over in the dead of night, and their consequent moving about. She decided that maybe someone in Gryffindor would be awake and could shed light on where the ever illusive painting was. The halls were now black, and all of the torches had been put out, but Illy trusted her extensive knowledge of the castle to find her way to the Gryffindor dorm. Just as she was beginning to get nervous about stumbling around in the dark, she noticed a faint light spilling out into the corridor around the corner from where she stood and illuminating the opposite wall. The light quickly dissipated as the doorway from which it was emanating was closed. Killious softly but promptly darted off in the direction of the light.

Just as she rounded the corner Illy collided with a pillar of human that dropped all of what it was holding, before stumbling forward to try and save whatever it was that had fallen, which in turn left Illy as a stumbling block. Whomever it was, they had fallen on top of Killious, who when she rebounded from the collision had landed face up on the ground, rubbing the back of her skull; for a split second he was still, but after recovering from the shock of running directly into another person in a supposedly deserted hallway, he was up trying to find the wand he hoped to use as a light source. Killious offered her wand, and stuttered out a "Sorry about that mate." In all honesty she had no idea if the person she had run into was male or female due to the cloak they had draped around them, but seeing as they were both dually hooded and sneaking about in the middle of the night on the first day of school, she decided it was best no to pry. The figure began rummaging about for it's possessions for a few moments, but after all of it's, whatever-they-were-'s were gathered up it stood to face Illy, or so she assumed. Both of them stood searching the darkness for some kind of sign as to what they had run into. Killious knew she was shorter than it, so it was either a very tall girl, a teacher, or an older male student, and she also noticed that it was solid, hard everywhere, so there was little chance it was female, because as far as she knew, there were no girls that tall and flat-chested in the whole of Hogwarts.

"No worries, but, if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing up here?" At first Killious was surprised by the sudden crack in the silence, but her mind went to work soon after, "I'm here to find a picture...well actually it's a door of sorts." She explained.

"Oh, well the fat lady is to your left" The voice was low and male, not sweet in the way honey voices were…

"No, not her, I know where she is; I'm looking for a picture of a bicycle racing a broom." Illy mentally scanned her catalogue of food words that coordinated with voices, she had almost decided,

"Well isn't that something, I might know where it is for the right price" She could tell that he was pleased now, and ready to bargain for information…toffee, his voice was like warm toffee, creamy, sweet, notable, and rich, but not excessive or overly powerful. The change in his tone lead her directly to the adjective, he sounded lighthearted now, not expensive and haunting like another boy she had, had a run in with that night. Killious sighed and prepared to haggle for what she wanted.

"Fine, what'll it be, money, every flavor beans, homework, what?" He snickered at her offers.

"No, I want something more valuable than that..."

"I'm not doing you any 'favors' if that's what your insinuating." She said taking a step back from where she was standing, making her notice just how close they must have been by the sudden rush of goose bumps up her spine when the warmth his body was producing faded.

"Nah, I'm not that desperate. How about you don't mention my sneaking about to no one and we'll call it even." He suggested in a tone that made him seem almost devoid of any thoughts that could be considered sexually impure…or extensively educated for that matter.

"Even if I wanted to tell someone I couldn't, as you may have noticed, neither one of us can see each other, so it's not like I can go tell professor McGonagall, whom I suspect is your house head, that some person whom I couldn't see was sneaking around somewhere on the seventh floor." As soon as the words left her mouth Killious realized just how daft she was, as she quickly clapped her hands around her mouth.

"You're right. Then I want something else."

"Well what is it? How about some Polly juice potion, I'm game for making some fresh, or giving you some of what I have if you prefer." The two of them had started walking in the direction of the fat lady by now and if there was any one in the halls to observe them, it would be easy to think that they were old friends, not random acquaintances trading information for illegal items.

"Nope, I'd rather make my own, so what house are you in?"

"Slytherin, what about muggle money?"

"That must suck, and no." He moved closer to where she was walking again, brushing her hand as he did so.

"It's not as bad a some imagine, the students aren't exactly a prize, but the common room is nice, not intimate or anything, but it feels natural for me. How about an invisibility charm?"

"Nah, I know the spell, and a friend who had a cloak. What year are you?"

"I'm a third year, what about yourself?"

"I'm a fourth, you play quidditch?"

"Not yet, but I think I can make the team if I try out. Oh, I know, I'll lend you my broom for a game!" She suggested, brushing his warm fingers again as she animatedly showed her excitement over the option.

"I'm on a team, and what kind of broom do you use?" He asked, seeming to take some interest at this point.

"A nimbus two thousand and one, my parents bought me a new one for my birthday."

"On second thought, nah, I can play without an expensive broom." Her hands fell to her side again and the pair stopped walking. They were now standing outside the Fat Lady's painting and he was about to say the password and leave her clueless as to where the picture was.

"Hog snout," he said to the picture, it began to open slowly, yawning the whole way.

"**_Colloportus_****!" The picture shut again and the boy turned to face Illy. **

**"Now what did you do that for, I'm gonna get caught." he snapped**

**"Because, I need to know where that picture is, ****_now_****!"**

**"But you don't have a thing that I want in return for the info, so you're out of luck sweety." He said, awaiting her explanation impatiently. She racked her brain, scrambling for some kind of helpful idea, finally she decided. **

**Killious chewed softly on her lower lip before finalizing what she was about to do in her head, she stood on her tiptoes and used her hands to locate his face. She pulled him close before he could protest or question her, sending her own lips crashing into his. The impact was clumsy, and not the best start to a kiss she'd ever experienced, but it seemed to be working; he was in shock for a moment as she caught his lip with her teeth, making him gasp just enough to slip her tongue into his mouth. His lips were soft, almost creamy, and just as his voice sounded like toffee, even his mouth was sweet and distinct. After four or five second he let down his tense shoulders and relaxed into the kiss. His hands moved to her face, cupping her cheeks and rooting his fingers in the start of her hair. Killious moved her own hands to wrap them around his neck, suddenly he broke from the kiss, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. He pulled her closer to him again, both of them enjoying the spontaneity of the moment. She ran her teeth lightly across his tongue, and reached into his cloak to touch his hair, it was soft and a bit short for my liking but still felt like fine threads of silk as she ran her fingers through it. As she finished the kiss she could feel him mouth a small yet complimenting "wow." She let him catch his breath for a moment and whispered "****_Alohomor_****"********to the painting. It didn't open but the spell to seal it was now cancelled. **

**"Hog snot...I mean snout." The boy finally said. He grabbed her hand and led her through the painting. "It's this way, just be quiet ok?" he spoke softly as they walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory together. Illy noticed the painting at once and after explaining to the bicycle and broom, which apparently could speak, that she intended to visit the sorting hat, the painting's figures turned their race from west to east across the night time scenery to face her directly. At first she jumped back a bit, but the figures were limited by their painting as a person was limited by a brick wall, and they had only pushed the painting forward on it's hinges to reveal a dark, four foot, frame of a door. Inside the frame the passage way opened upwards to a seven or eight foot height and had a very narrow spiraling staircase inside that presented absolutely no light. The boy followed Killious down the stairs purely out of curiosity, almost tripping over her cloak twice, and apologizing through his laughs at her exaggerated squeals. **

**As she carefully made her way down two floors of stairs Killious was trying desperately to remember why she was here, changing houses was out of the question, she wouldn't give up that easily, in honesty she was just looking for someone to talk to. But, a notion like that seemed to be paltry for the trip it took to get here, not that the trip was a necessary disaster, but still she had put in quite a bit of effort just to talk to a hat. She tried her best to come up with something to ask the sorting hat, so that she didn't seem quite so desperate for companionship of some kind. **

**She reached the bottom of the staircase and through a barred window in the wall could see it...the sorting hat. She practically ran across the room and put the hat on. **

**_Here so soon? I guess Slytherin wasn't all you'd hoped it could be. _****"No it wasn't, but I'll be fine there, I actually just wanted to ask you something." Killious glanced at the boy who was across the room from her, waiting, curiously, and hesitated a moment.**

**_I see, what's on your mind? Do you want to know who that boy is? Is that it?..._**

**(AN: Don't forget to R&R, -Richard S.)**


	4. 3 Back to Bed

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 3

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 3

**"Actually, no... I wanted to know where my broom was. See, I parked it in the Forbidden Forest and I just can't remember where." ****_Do I look like a crystal ball to you? I don't know where your broom is! _****"Sorry, but I figured if you knew who he was you might know where my broom was..." ****_I put him in Gryffindor. Of course I know who he is. I know who all the students are. _****"I see, well then...why do they put you down here as soon as the sorting ceremony is over?" She tried to make small talk, as she became irritated with the boy's presence while she attempted to have a private conversation.**

**_well they don't exactly know what else to do with me, what are they going to do? Make someone always wear me? _****"Well, no, I guess not, that could really drive a person mad, two heads in one in a way. I'm sorry I came in the dead of night, I guess I could have waited." ****_But you really wanted someone to talk to, I understand Killious, you're going to find out things about yourself over the next few years that will surprise you far more than the fact that you enjoy talking to old hats that can talk to you telepathically. _****She smiled, relieved at the thought that he had just chuckled off her embarrassment. **

**"One more thing before I have to go, why are you in the Gryffindor boys dorm?" ****_Because, I wanted to be near male student. I can hear what they say and when no one is looking they gossip more than girls, so I can keep track of the school, and also, because this is the least smelly boys dorm. _****"Very good reasons indeed. Well, I should be off then, classes start in just a few hours, have a nice evening" ****_Alright, next time you come bring me some chocolate gateau from the kitchen I quite fancy it, and while they know I can eat it's not essential so they often let me go without. _****"Alright I will do, good night" ****_Are you sure you don't want to know who he is? He's a good boy you'd like him very much. _****"No thanks I really am fine not knowing, I don't really care who he is. Names aren't important." ****_Good philosophy, cheerio then, and have a good first day. _****"I will" ****_And just so you know Illy, I understand what a difference a single encounter can have on you, Slytherin will do fine for you, it'll just take some getting used to_**** "You are a mind reader…" and with that she slipped the hat off her head and started back for the staircase. **

**The boy was still there, sort of gaping in awe of what she had just done. As she walked past him up the staircase, now more exhausted than interested in speaking, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in front of him. "Do you really not care who I am?" He asked in a bit of a stunned voice.**

**"I really don't, I just needed to find the painting and now I know." **

**"Well, I know all sort of other secret passage ways around the castle, I could tell you them." **

**"Nope, I'm fine. Besides I know every passage in this castle blindfolded, except for things in dorms, because I used to be a delivery boy for Gringott's and they had me take packages all over. I never made it past a common room. Though once, when an owl was sick, a family asked me to deliver a package to their twin sons and I almost had to go to the dorms and get one of them to come down from his room because his brother was off pulling some prank. I really was hoping I would have to go get him though because I had heard he was rather cute."**

**"Do you remember his name?" **

**"Umm, I think it was Cid Weasel or something like that, but I don't really care about names so I tend to forget them." **

**"Well, I care about names, what's yours?"**

**"I'm not going to tell you that, you'll have to figure out yourself."**

**"How? There's no way I'll be able to tell if who I'm talking to is you."**

**"True, well then be creative."**

**"Do you really know all the hidden passages in Hogwarts?"**

**"Yes, students weren't aloud to see me unless I was delivering things to them, so I had to use all the secret entrances to things, not worth the trouble if you ask me."**

**"I know what we can do, ok, next Thursday meet me here at eleven, and we can show each other what we look like ok?" **

**"What if I don't want you to know what I look like?"**

**"Fine, than you don't have to show me, or better yet, we'll both use a Polly juice potion, you said yourself you have some, and I can get some without too many problems." **

**"Alright then, that's what we'll do." And with that she began to head up the stairs again, but as she reached the second step he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down again, planting a kiss on her lips before letting her go and heading to bed himself.**

**(AN: I'm sorry that its so short, but please R&R anyway –Richard S.) **


	5. 4 Choking on breakfast

AN: Finally getting into some real story here, much longer than the rest, hope it's worth the time it took R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 4

(AN: We're finially getting to some real story, this chapter is a bit daunting in length though, I will warn you. I hope everyone appreciates the extra length, R&R –Richard S.)

**The next day Killious woke up before most the people in room, one girl, Kalian, was awake but barely and she was currently attempting to make her bed, forgetting that it really wasn't important at all to do so, now that no parents would yell at you about it. She got out of bed and headed strait for the bathroom, feeling the grimy discust with her hygene that had accompanied virtually every morning since the accident. after a thirty minute shower of scrubbing herself pink with a stiff, natural sponge, she brushed her teeth and straightened her hair. She pulled on my grey skirt, which she had taken the liberty of adjusting over the summer so that it's hem came five or six inches from her knee, a white collared shirt and a silver vest with green trim, and the Slytherin crest on the left breast area, that only served to accentuate her already busty figure. After she had finished dressing in the bathroom she moved back towards her bed, opening her trunk to withdraw a pair of white stockings with thin green stripes. She placed one foot on top of the chest at a time, pulling up the stockings and hooking them on garters that fastened an inch above her hemline, so that any swift movements would present a flashy peak at the old fashioned, but still alluring lingerie. She quickly tied and adjusted her green and silver tie, slipped in a pair of basic silver hoop earrings, before buckling her chunky black Mary-Jane style shoes, and wrapping a small silver chain with a crystal ball attached to it around her wrist three or four times. **

**Killious' hair was black as night, actually blacker, the only time when it seemed like it wasn't just a sheet of ebony was when the sun hit it, then it shown with a very purple tint, but when her hair was pulled back, or she was in doors no one took notice of the abnormal color. Her eyes changed with her mood from sparkling grey greens to cold blacks framed with long thick lashes that she bordered in a good amount of eyeliner. Her lips were full and soft, with a natural rosy tint that was usually only accentuated with a thin layer of glossy sheen. Her cute nose, not tiny, but not pointy or crooked either, matched the rest of her features: all in all very soft, but strong and distinct. Anyone could tell that her parents must have looked entirely different from one another. After putting some books in her side bag, she gave myself a devilish grin in the mirror and headed downstairs, grabbing her cloak from the stand on the way. **

**As she walked down to the common room she noticed several people were now awake and in lovely moods as well. **

**"Give me the damn wand or I'll have your head!" Dolan yelled at Christian. Christian looked quite a bit like Dolan if you thought about it, a bit taller, with more of a dull grey eye color, and he wasn't as tan but otherwise; there was an eerie likeness between them. **

**"Sure you will!" Christian jeered as he did a bit of a jig around the room while Dolan tried to catch him. Dolan had, had enough, he gave me a small smile and hurled an open bottle of ink at Christian. The black liquid spread across Christian's shirt and fact within seconds, dripping all over the floor as he stood still in shock for a few seconds. His delayed reaction was soon forgotten though, as she began to chase Dolan around the room, running into virtually all the furniture in the room as he tried to wipe the ink from his face, doing his best to keep the thick liquid from dripping off his eyelashes into his eyes. Dolan was darting across the room, around a table and someone's stray bag, when he caught sight of her. He stopped dead in his tracks, not noticing that Christian had found a spot from which to throw things, and still keep Dolan's wand safely in his possession.**

**"Holly damn..." Was all he could muster, Christian must have noticed that Dolan had stopped shouting threats, and turned to see why. He, being different in personality from Dolan, and far more social, if the word could be used as a replacement for perverted couldn't help but say something.**

**"Well, I see someone was in the mood to get snogged on the first day of school!" Killious smiled and cocked her head a little, in a girlish way, putting on her best front of innocence. **

**"Actually..." She started, as she stared longingly into his eyes "I was...well I was hoping that maybe...if you wanted to" He was eating it up. Hanging on her every word, tracing each curve of her body with his eyes "You could... well you know..." She said in a shy sort of way.**

**"I'll be your boy toy any day you want me to!" He offered. She dropped the face and put a hand on her hip giving him a callous stare. **

**"Actually I just wanted to know if you felt like bringing my breakfast here, I don't feel like walking down all those stairs." All the other boys in the room, who had migrated in during the fight laughed as they took in the surprised and appalled look on Christian's face. She pulled her cloak on and chuckled to herself before turning to the table adjacent to the girl's staircase to drop her bag. **

**The room was now populated by about twelve or thirteen boys and was devoid of any girls, seeing as they were all now occupying themselves with hair and makeup, save on greasy looking blond in the corner, who was whimpering softly about something. Jackquinne had come down the stairs while the ink bottle was still in motion, and by the looks of it, he and Dolan were the only one's who had done much to even brush their hair and smooth over their uniforms. The rest of the boys were un-tucked, untied, and some of them weren't even dressed yet, as they meandered into the room to talk, or eat if they had food, before actually getting ready for the day. **

**Just as she had finished setting her bag down however, Draco came down the stairs to the boys' dorm with a frown on his face. "Are you really going to take that from her? Besides why would you stoop to such an offer, I thought you were less desperate than that Christian." Dolan looked at Draco and then realized what the problem was, he ran over to where Malfoy stood at the base of the staircase. **

**"Hey Illy, can I borrow your wand really quickly?" Killious turned around and tossed it to him, and just as Dolan planned, Draco's jaw dropped when the open part of her robe brought into view just what had reduced Christian to the fate so many she would face in her years at Hogwarts. Dolan grabbed the wand and shouted. **

**"****_Immobulus!_****" Christian stuck to his spot on the floor, and Dolan went to retrieve his wand, handing Illy her wand on the way. By this time Draco had recovered, and decided that the best way to convalesce his awkward staring moment was to retaliate with insults.**

**"I didn't know we were aloud to have whores on campus." He spat in her direction**

**"Well how the hell did you get in?" Illy smirked. The girl in the corner looked up at her, and she could now see the blonde's eyes were red and puffy.**

**"He bought his way in, just like he buys everything else!" She screamed before curling up into a ball and crying. Draco shot daggers at her and for several moments everyone was silent while his piercing stare bore into her back. She finally stood up and fled from the room, waterworks on full blast. **

**"What was that about Draco?" Illy asked as Draco slowly headed for the door, before bolting from the room abruptly. Killious chased after him, feeling like a child for running after Draco as if they were playing tag, but deciding it was worth the silly chase to get answers out of him. Christian, Dolan, and Jackquinn ran to catch up with her but, she turned and gave them quick looks to tell them to stay back a few feet. She was now practically sprinting to keep up with Draco, who seemed to be in better shape than his spoiled mannerisms suggested. When she finally got close enough to him she practically knocked him over, in an attempt to force him into an abandoned alcove in the hallway.**

**"Draco, what's gotten you so upset about that girl? What did you do?" He gave her a perturbed stare for quite some time before realizing that there was no escape from this girl, and he would have to tell her what had happened, it was inevitable. After a deep breath and a loud sigh, he began to speak, **

**"Look it was nothing, we went out for a little while during the summer, we had sex, it was even her idea, but when we came back to school she knew, we weren't going to be going out anymore. I had told her weeks before the term started. She knew she wasn't going to be anything but a bloody fling, she even said she was okay with the whole arrangement, but then we got back to school... She's gone crazy, she won't eat, or bathe very much for that matter, and she's been following me everywhere! She's worse than Pansy, I have no idea why she's acting like this…I don't know what the bloody hell her problem is!" **

**"How does all of that tie into you buying your way into everything?"**

**"I took her on vacations with me… I'm a bloody fucking Malfoy! I have money and I spend it, dinner, gifts, shows, quidditch tickets, the whole deal, I'm not a bloody fop, I just wanted to treat her like a real girlfriend…but then she got all clingy, I told her, 'as soon we go back to Hogwarts this is done' and she agreed. But now she's lost it, she's convinced that she has to exact some sort of freak revenge on me, she even tried to threaten my father, sending him some screamer that claimed I had given her money to fuck me."**

**"Well, just so you know, girls try not to look at things they don't like. It makes it easier to deal with, or so they think, but in the end it just makes you run in to an emotional brick wall. She was probably just pretending nothing was wrong hoping it would go away, don't worry about it, she'll have a new boyfriend in no time, she's easy!" She said as she shrugged off what had just happened; Draco looked a little stunned at her ability to sympathize with the male race. "So, what did your dad say about the letter?" She asked as she pushed him out of the room by his shoulders from behind "Was he pissed at you or what?" Draco smirked a bit as they left the room. The hall was deserted; everyone had gone to breakfast, leaving them alone to walk to the great hall. **

**"Actually, he said that it must have been a waste of money…" Draco mumbled out uncomfortably. Killious was now massaging his shoulders as they mounted the stairs together. **

**"You two fight a lot don't you?" She asked, he was trying to focus on a way to explain his relationship with his father, but when she was practically turning his tense shoulder muscles into mush it was presenting itself to be all the more difficult of a task.**

**"We…mmmm" He caught himself melting into her hands as she moved to his neck. "mostly just see each other in public. He doesn't think I live up to what I should be, and I fight with him too much at home, so we try to avoid each other all together for convenience purposes." She had now worked her way up his neck and had begun lightly scratching his scalp, as she ran her fingers through his hair, nails dancing on his skull he narrowly avoided running dead into a wall with her next question. **

**"So, why would he say she's a waste of money." Killious murmured. She had begun to slip into the mood herself, drowning in the masculine smell of his porcelain body. As her hands moved from roughly massaging his muscular shoulders, to skillfully unnerving him with just the right touch to pressure points in his neck, and finally they became all but ravenous. **

**"Well, he just, my parents aren't married because they're attracted to one another…" He trailed off. His smell was flooding her nostrils, it was everything she had not to become overwhelmed and shift from sensually trailing her fingers over his scalp to vigorously running her fingers through his soft blond hair, forgetting inhibition, just for the sake of his smell, his touch, and his body. **

**"What do you mean?" She seemed puzzled, once the words had finally sunk in. Draco was now moving at a crawl, trying to extend the moment as long as possible.**

**"I mean that, well he's not gay, of course, but….he likes younger women, and he doesn't exactly keep them around for a long time." Her movements were slowing becoming more aggressive, as she abandoned a neat, across the scalp pattern for more randomized but pleasurable swirls that tossed and twisted his hair into a messy sculpture of her fancy. **

**"So what, just like girlfriends or something?" Draco was doing his best not to let loose information about family secrets that not even he was supposed to know about, but no one had made all of his muscles relax and tense again in such a short amount of time. He was totally engulfed in a fantasy, of her playing with his hair, more roughly than she was, while she did other things to make his whole body tingle the way his hair was. He grunted once, trying to chase away the thoughts, but she took it to mean the opposite of his intention and instead of stopping, or even slowing she now began use her nails with savage enthusiasm, if he had been bald, there would have been marks. Draco hadn't even realized that he had closed his eyes until he opened them to see that they had stopped moving entirely, just around the corner from the great hall.**

**"Yeah, girlfriends, it created tension in the house…you should probably stop that now, I do need to fix my hair." He tried his best to seem like he was serious, or at least genuine. **

**Killious dropped her hands to her side, her face feeling hot, but her cheeks not showing tell tale red. She lowered her head a little and turned to join her friends in the great hall. Draco reached out for her wrist, his mind split between grabbing it, pinning her against the wall, and telling her to do that while she rode him, and between preserving his dignity. His hand fell limply to his side before it even reached hers, and he decided it was probably a good plan to straighten his hair out. **

**As she sat down for breakfast her mind quickly trailed away from food, and several times through the meal she caught one of the guys saying "don't you think so?" or "We should do that together!" but she replied with only her silence and a blank stare. She looked as though she was in another world, as her brain rolled over the events of the night before, and somehow, she had made up her mind that she couldn't wait for a week. Her thoughts were being fueled by a kerosene of Draco's behavior, she had no idea whether it was the mention of his father, or his own disgust with her behavior that had upset him so much, but either way, it was enough to make her insane. **

**So she sat, staring at the French toast on her plate, lost in the swirly design of syrup and cinnamon mixed together, debating what to do or say. On the one hand, she could just ask the hat who he was, but it would ruin the adventure, the excitement! And on the other, if she waited a week, who knew what might end up happening in a deserted corridor if Draco was around. Draco had already taken a seat just a little ways from her and tried more than once to strike up conversation, but she was lost in thought and everyone had decided to let her be, they had no reason to bother her, she didn't eat anyway. After twenty minutes of just zoning out she raised her eyes and looked directly at Jackquinn. **

**"Are people from other tables aloud to site with us?" The surround section of the table fell silent, and practically fell right out of their chairs with slack jaws and wide eyes.**

**"Well, I guess so..." Jackquinn replied. "I mean, I know there are no rules against it, so I don't see why not..." By this time both Dolan and Christian were wondering why Jackquinn seemed to have such a comprehensive knowledge of the rules, but everyone else seemed to act like it was just common knowledge that he read into things more than was healthy. **

**"Why would you ****_want_**** to invite anyone else to our table? They might be mudbloods, or just plain filthy little creatures." Draco said snidely. She gave him a fowl look and considered commenting on how his hair looked, but deciced against it and instead glanced toward Jackquinn in expectation. **

**"So, Jackquinn, would I get in trouble for my uniform...modifications?" She asked. **

**"Well, no. I mean McGonagall will probably hate you forever, but Snape will most likely award points to our house for your ass." She giggled a little at the thought of Snape awarding her points for her possibly lewd behavior and turned her attention to two very cute redheads at the Gryffindor table. **

**"So, we have potions first right?" Asked Christian as a piece of bacon hung very unattractively out of his mouth. She thought about staying and enjoying the riveting conversation, but decided instead on something more fun. She stood up as though in a trance, and headed straight for her target. **

**"Oiye, what are your brothers' names?" She asked a tall boy with slightly darker red hair, pale skin, dusted by freckles with brilliant blue eyes. He gulped down his pumpkin juice, and did a double take over my uniform, staring mindlessly into the tight vest as he tried to remember.**

**"Umm, oh, their names are Fred and George, though it'll take you forever to tell them apart, I'm um, Ron by the way." He stuttered out, just before dropping his eyes back to his plate with a blush. **

**"You ****_can't_**** be wearing that, it's against school policy." A rather short girl with fuzzy brown hair, and warm brown eyes began to explain. **

**"Actually I can, you must be Harry," Illy said looking in the direction of a boy with messy raven hair and stark green eyes with a bit of sunburn on his face. "Recognized you from" **

**"The scar on my head I know" He said irritably. She looked at him and blinked...**

**"No, from the cute redhead that always hangs out with you. He's almost all the first year girl's talk about." Ron was now beginning to go tomato red in the face, and Killious was starting to enjoy herself. "Yeah, you kind of scare them Potter even though they love you're mystique and fame, but Ron here, they all say that he's such a good boy, even a Slytherin can't turn down a cute, loyal one." She finished much to Harry's astonishment.**

**"But yeah, the scar helps anyone creepy enough to look for it identify you, but you've done a pretty good job of hiding it, so worry not."**

** She looked down the table at Fred and George, a sparkle in her eye, and a smile curling onto her lips. "Hey, Fred, George," they looked up at her call. "D'you two and your brother want to come sit with me, I figure we need a lot of help in Slytherin as far as looks go so you could defiantly contribute, and of course I'd kill for the pleasure of your company Ron." They looked a little bit unsure at first but after leaning in together to consult one another Fred and George got up from the table and merrily followed her with a smug "Right you are about that". Ron, however, was a bit more worried about the dirty look Harry was giving him. She walked over and leaned down next to his ear, "Ron, Harry isn't the one I invited, I'm sorry but I can't be causing full out war. The choice isn't his though anyway, its yours. Hermione can't decide for you either," She said as he glanced in her direction, with a look of worry on his face. "The only one who can is you, so c'mon, get up and go try something new. We have plenty of space and Fred and George are waiting." Ron hesitated for about fifteen more seconds before nodding his head and standing up.**

**She quickly led the boys to her table, having the twins sit across from her and Ron adjacent. "Ok, everyone, this is Ron, and that is Fred and George, not sure who is who yet, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually." She pointed as she spoke with a smile on her face. Draco looked horrified but what the fuck did she care? She was finding this whole situation amusing. "Oh, and guys this is, Dolan, Christian, Jackquinn, and I'm sure you know the famous Draco Malfoy...he's like Harry of the Slytherin world, and together they make up the Hogwarts chapter of my fan base!" A smile cracked across Fred's face when she said this, but everyone else seemed to be weighed down by the awkward air about the table. Malfoy sneered at Illy, but before he could make a snide remark she began a verbal assault. "Oh, get off it, they're even pureblood you little puss. If you weren't such a git you'd see what a fine looking group of people I've managed to assemble in my short time here." Ron smiled this time, reaching for a bit of sausage. **

**"Thanks for inviting us, I've never been over here...or seen a nice Slytherin" He said the last part under his breather but she still heard it. George and Fred now had their heads together, babbling about something, she was trying to read lips but kept getting distracted by the dirty looks other members of her house were giving me. Christian threw down the piece of toast he was nibbling on and turned to her, furry in his eyes. **

**"Enough! Are you here just to throw the balance of things off? You're two years late, you've spent like ten minutes having a conversation with the sorting hat, you've altered your uniform, You fight with Draco more than Harry and now Gryffindor's are sitting at ****_our _****table! What the hell are you thinking?" He was now leaning over a majority of the table top and was only a few, uncomfortable, inches from her face, quite literally breathing down her throat. She looked around about to see if anyone was going to come to her rescue…and she was totally on her own now. She bit down on her lower lip, something she usually did before making a rash decision. **

**Christian looked stunned, yet pleased, and some how he had a twisted, but decidedly much better look on his face. He took a napkin and rubbed the clear lip-gloss off his cheek, blinking quite idly as he did so, the table burst into laughter around him, falling into hysterics at the look of his face. Illy held up a hand to motion them to be quite, **

**"Now Christian, I would really appreciate if you could treat my new friends nicely, and for god's sake, stop yelling all the time. The whole world isn't coming to an end." Christian slipped back to his seat and found himself caught up in a delirium of shock and amusement as he ferociously attacked the rest of his breakfast. **

**"But your world just might be!" Ron said as he pointed towards the rampaging Snape, who was approaching from the Gryffindor end of the hall at a brisk pace. **

**"Potter get that smirk off your face! Stop playing with wands at the table! Get ****_all_**** of the melon balls out of your mouth NOW! Stop throwing that!" He snapped at random students, his eyes focused in on Illy's the entire time, making students quiver at the thought of Snape being able to psychically scold. And with a smirk on his face he came to a halt two inches from Illy, she rose to greet him giving him a small handshake, which seemed to be an awkward oppression. "So your parents let you come this year?" He asked smugly. She grinned at him and nodded her head vigorously, becoming more and more like the school girl she should have been around him.**

**"Of course Professor, why wouldn't they?" **

**"I had hoped you could continue your previous job..." He said with a bit of disappointment.**

** "Oh, I will, but only on the weekends and over summer and winter holidays, I can't wait to see what winter delivery's will be like, it will be my first year attempting them, and I can only imagine the blizzards," she babbled on, before realizing that he was eyeing her company ruefully. "How silly of me, this is Ron, Fred, George, Dolan, Jackquinn, Christian, and your pride and joy." Draco smiled at Snape and Snape's lips curled upward at her joke. **

**"Alright then, carry on, I'll see you in potions" he said distractedly as he shot every boy at the table a cold glance, before turning on his heel to leave.. **

**"Did you snogg him too?" George asked in disbelief. Illy chuckled and took a nibble of Dolan's buttered toast. **

**"Nah, I used to work for him sometimes. We met under the circumstances of me being his personal delivery boy. Besides, I'd barely call that peck on the cheek a snogg." **

**"You were a boy?" Fred chimed in with a raised eyebrow; Killious felt her cheeks become warm, but she kept her composure and shrugged off the remark. "Well if you were I need to know who your plastic surgeon is because he did a damn good job!" All the boys at the table laughed again, and carried on with their breakfast as if it was normal. Illy slid back in her chair and looked up at the clear open ceiling, it was a rainy morning, beautiful in shades of blues and grays swirling together to create an ominous but comforting effect. **

**"Do you ever wish one day they would actually take the ceiling out? Just to surprise everyone when rain started to fall on their plates..." Malfoy gave her an odd look and then replied.**

**"Yeah, I do. It'd be great to watch everyone panic and run around." The other boys agreed, acting out shrill impressions of the girls scurrying from the room. "Funny that we want a change in scenery, when any muggle would be wetting themselves over the things we do everyday…" Malfoy said in an oddly out of character, dreamy manner. It was now getting rather silent at the table, so Killious decided to pick up the mood. She dropped my head, and smiled waiting for the boys to follow suit, after they didn't she picked up a shelled walnut and flicked it at Malfoy with a butter knife. He snorted in her direction but was obviously just playing. **

**"There's a philosopher in you after all." She smirked. Just as she had said this breakfast was being dismissed, and hoards of students were rushing towards classes. Illy stood up and gave Ron, a hug. "Thanks for coming I know your friends will give you a hard time about it," He blushed a little. "So do you wanna walk to class with us?" Ron shook his head no, and headed back in the direction of his table. Illy turned to pick up another walnut and through it at Christian. **

**Fred and George seemed to have disappeared as she exited the hall, slapping and poking Jackquinn and Dolan. Christian and Malfoy still thought it was a bit childish of her but what the hell did she care, she wasn't there to impress anyone, and she finally fit in with the people around her. Even if none of them where female, but so far, Pansy, the alternating things on Draco's arm, were annoying as crap, Granger was in need of a good snogg, and the blond in the corner was a total cry baby. **


	6. 5 Dating in Disguise

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 5

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 5

**So, Hogwarts was worth waiting an extra year to go, especially since she had a better knowledge of most subjects than a majority of the fifth years. Days passed to weeks and though McGonagall had refused to crack and send her to more advanced classes she had sent severally specialty books to Illy. The guys had become like a second family to Killious, Cedric Diggory had even played boyfriend for a day or two her but she had quelled his interest quietly, preferring men that had nerve to break some rules, even Ron had enough backbone for something like that. Harry was slowly warming up to her, which made spending time with Ron much easier; the trio spent hours gushing over quidditch games and players, obsessing over the odds of the next match, and more importantly the turn out for the cup. Dolan and Christian were almost more like siblings than Ron and the twins, always fighting, always ending up begging one another for homework or some other useless item they couldn't live without. They loved involving Illy in their quarrels on a regular basis, which usually meant that she had to lend a wand, potion, helping hand, or spell book to them at least once a day. **

**She had grown obscurely close to Draco, spending almost an hour every night practicing new spells or charms with him, during which they talked about women, school, and anything else that came to mind. Draco had even helped her get onto the quidditch team as a chaser, and he loved to pull together mini-quidditch matches with Ron, Harry, Fred, George, Christian, and herself; mostly so he could de-broom Potter and follow up with a pointless fight which ended up in jealous rage as Illy fled to the side of the wounded party to nurse them, and yell at the offender. Draco seemed to take these fights better than Harry most of the time, and was pleased to be given any attention that couldn't leave them being faux siblings, whether it be maternal, or adversarial; his sick sense of romance had even determined that any time Illy slapped him on the back of the head, called him a douche, or shoved him on the ground could be misconstrued just as much a sign of affection as nursing any scrapes or cuts he had with a washcloth and a charm. The Weasly's and Christian could only laugh whenever she left the field momentarily and Harry and Draco clamored to inflict pain on themselves somewhere that was covered by clothing, even though Fred and Ron had been known to do the same thing on more than one occasion, whereas Christian and George where happy enough to observe in hysterics and narrate with ample perversions included. **

**Harry and Ron had found their niche in her life however, as the men that kept her fed. They ended up sneaking to the kitchen four or five times a week, and while they claimed she should just eat more at meals they secretly appreciated being up at all hours of the night with her, especially if the third party was swamped with homework or some other distraction to the fun. On any given night they were likely to decide not to wait for Illy's three AM wake up to go get food, and had been known to show up at her door with parcel of food. **

** Jackquinn had formed a study group with Clause, a green haired, golden eyed, 6' 3" very muscular Ravenclaw, and Illy. They met every other day to finish off homework study, and gossip about everyone at school. Jackquinn seemed exclusive in his immunities to Illy's charm, and took her enjoyment in dotting upon him with kisses and caress as the foul joke she meant it to be for all of the other boys. Clause had made a habit of picking up the two, but seemed content to leave with Jackquinn if Killious was distracted or tied down, and was always in better moods when such opportunities arose. On days when Draco had given Jackquinn an especially hard time or when his parents had sent him especially emotional letters the two were usually waiting in the library for a good hour before Illy arrived. Jackquinn's relationship with his family was hard to describe, they were inexplicably close, even though it seemed that only his mother ever send him letters and Jackquinn's hyper-emotional personality could only take so much time away from his mum. On one such days Illy had noticed Jackquinn's wet and cloudy eyes, just after he had opened a letter and she had decided to come to the library good ten minutes late, as she searched the tables in the back of the library that the group usually occupied she almost audibly let out an "Awww" when she found the two boys. Clause had Jackquinn's hand in his own and was staring intently into his eyes as he did his best to calm and clearly distressed Jackquinn. She approached the table loudly after a few moments, but when she came to sit down Jackquinn gathered his books and turned to leave, "His mum, she's a muggle, and…she's just really sick, she worrying too much about him and whenever she has to hear about the things kids say to him in Slytherin, well it just really hurts her." He sighed and shrugged, "I guess we'll just have to finish the essays tomorrow, rain-check ok?" He asked. Illy shook her head and departed after giving Clause a hug and going to find the twins. **

**Fred and George took her in like a sister. She was never left out of a prank that took more than one participant, whether it be as simple as water balloons full of curdled milk or as complex as indoor blizzard's, though she seemed to be immune to any form of detention if she was caught by Snape, or almost any teacher for that matter, excluding McGonagall who was utterly lost when it came to Illy and what course of punishment to take with her. Fred, George, and Illy would often spend entire weekend afternoons plotting new things to do to fellow students and faculty; their latest plan involved changing the picture of the Fat Lady outside the Gryffindor common room into a very ugly duckling, with more than one odd skin complication.**

**Killious' weekends were a daze of activities ranging from official quidditch team practices that resulted in rather large bruises, cuts, scrapes, and the occasional concussion as a product of the not exactly humane practices that the Slytherin players were subject to, something that Harry had often blamed on Draco's brutal influence on the team, all the way to drawn out expeditions to the library with Hermione, who had seemed to warn up to Illy after finding out that she read more than even Miss Granger. Of course she had to make time to run off with the twins three or four times in the two days of free time she had, and then there were the morning jogs around the lack and all the homework she helped Harry and Ron with. The two had deduced that since she had already finished homework with Jackquinn and Clause that she must be readily available to help them with any astronomy questions they had. Illy herself had been excused from the class due to her official star, palm, and omen reading certification; which was requirement for all Gringott's deliverers, seeing as pre-takeoff tea readings, star checks, and fire omen's were standard procedure to ensure maximum package safety during her flights. The bank itself took up a large part of Illy's weekend; she still worked from eight A.M. to four thirty P.M. every Saturday and Sunday running to and from Gringott's for more local, and lower profile delivery's, excluding the one's that she did around the school, and in honesty if it wasn't for her extra class period during what would be Astronomy she probably would have been quite a mess, but quick naps and extra time to do homework and reading saved her from her habitually exhausting work schedule. **

**The sorting hat had also befriended her in a sort of way, even thought now she had to go to Dumbledoor's office to speak with the hat because McGonagall was less than fond of the idea of having Illy in her house, or having students know where the hat was kept. He enjoyed listening to the events of her day whenever he could, however one night as she sat with him he reminded her of something that she had completely forgotten. **

**_So, did you already meet the boy? _****"What boy?" ****_You dote! The one that you kissed! The one from Gyffindor, the one whose name you wouldn't let me tell you! _****"Shit!...You're right I'm supposed to meet him tonight! Dammit, I have to go and thanks for reminding me Libious" ****_Hold it! Do you have any one to put into your polyjuice potion? _****"Well, no...but I'll use a girl in my dorm" ****_Why bother, he only wants you anyway. _****"I can't do that...I have to go, I'll be back tomorrow." She set the hat down and pulled a small cake out of her pocket to feed to him before running towards her dorm with gale force speeds. She ducked down a secret corridor and ran head first into an also quite rushed set of Weasly twins, Fred chuckled and helped her to her feet, steadying her swaying body, "I Can't talk guys, pull the prank without me, or get Peeves or something I have to go!" She said as she ran off, not bothering to thank friend, or ask why George was blushing like a madman. **

**She took a strand hair from a fifth year in Slytherin with long wavy chestnut locks and emerald eyes that were lightly lined with freckles. She changed into a normal looking uniform, complete with proper length skirt, and took off down the halls again. She quickly adjusted the clasp of her crystal ball necklace around her neck, deciding she'd rather be found out than be apart from it. It was one of the few things her parents had left for her; Annabelle had given it to her on her 14****th**** birthday, along with instructions to never be without it because it was charmed with good luck. **

**Skidding around the same corner where she had first met the boy she quickly found the fat lady, well now a duck, and gave her the password, which had been changed for the ninth time this week, and given to her by Ron. She crept into the common room with shaky but, silent stealth and after tip toed up the stairs. Two steps from the top she paused momentarily, she could hear two boys fighting from the door to her left. **

**"She won't be here, so why bother?"**

**"She will...I'm sure"**

**"Than why haven't we heard her yet? Tell me that"**

**"She's sneaky?" **

**"Oiye! My arse 'she's sneaky' what a load of bullshit!"**

**"I'm going anyway, I'll be back later!" She could hear one of the boys stomping down the hall in her direction. She swiftly headed to her destination, practically running into three beds on the way. She stumbled down the stairs in a hurry and crept into the shadows in the corner of the room to wait. **

**Only ten seconds after she had gotten into place she could hear someone coming down the stairs behind her. He stepped slowly into the room, hesitating before moving into the light from the barred window, shaggy blond hair shown on his head, and his dark eyes flickered in the moonlight. She stepped forward sheepishly, playing with the hem of her shirt. **

**"Hi-" was all she could muster, planning to continue, but stopping at the shock of hearing her uncharacteristically quiet voice. He smiled warmly and came to wrap his arms around her waist, resting one hand on each of her hips, thumbs on her pelvic bones and fingers on her back.**

**"I knew you'd come..." He said as he moved his hands to her upper back and hugged her tightly, she was awkward at her shorter-than-usual height but she was immersed in the feeling of his arms around her. **

**"So are we just going to stay here for the next hour?" She asked, breathing into his neck. **

**"That would be fine with me." He said, as he began to kiss her neck affectionately. She smiled to herself, but she couldn't stop panicking, worried sick that both Fred and George, or Ron, or Harry would be storming down the stairs any moment now, for some undisclosed reason. She sighed and tried to dwell on the moment that was presenting itself, as he slowly made a motion to undo the first button on her shirt, pushing it to the side as he kissed across her collar bone softly. She melted into his grasp, finding herself closer and closer to detachment every second. **

**"Yeah, maybe that's not such a ba-" she gasped as his thin wet tongue moved across her collar bone, before stopping and kissing her throat. "…Or I have another idea." She said, trying to regain her thoughts. She stepped back from his grasp and faced the window, ****_mobillibars _****she shouted as the window opened itself entirely to the outside night sky. She turned to look at the boy who seemed to now be thoroughly confused. **

**"Ok, so I'm going to jump down and you'll just use a leviosa to keep me from falling to my death, alright?" She said grinning, seeming to have fully recovered from her momentarily subdued personality. **

**"You're kidding, I'm a reckless fool, but you could really die if something went wrong!" He exclaimed. **

**"Right then, here goes!" She said climbing into the window, and readying herself for the fall. He rushed to he side, but before he could pull her back into the room she jumped, his mind snapped into reflexes instantly, **

**"****_Wingardium Leviosa_****!" He shouted just before she collided with the earth below her. **

**She stepped back just a little ways and looked up to the window, giggling uncontrollably. **

**"Your turn!" She hollered up to him. He hesitated then slowly dropped himself out of the window. "****_Waddiwasi!_****" As she spoke the words the boy was sent flying strait up into the air, half laughing half screaming the entire time, as she sent him on an invisible roller coaster ride. After thirty or forty seconds she set him back down on the ground with a soft thud. He shook for a few moments before he leapt to his feet and came running after her, full speed. She made it a few feet but her thin unexercised legs were dropping out from beneath her, and after a few more seconds he wrapped his hands around her waste and pulled her to the ground with him. **

**"That was a wicked trick you pulled back there." He spoke through his laughter. She brushed some of the blond hair out the way of his warm brown eyes, running her fingers through it as she pushed is aside. **

**"Thanks…I do what I can." He gave her an odd smile, before starting to get up. "What was that for?" He just laughed and waved his hand about in a, "it was nothing" sort of way. She reached out for his hand and smiled before dragging him in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. **

**"Where are we going?" He asked as she ducked down small paths and checked marks on trees, half caught in euphoric excitement and half wondering why the dementors around the grounds hadn't noticed the two of them.**

**"It's a secret, and it's right...here." She pushed through a patch of tall Flitterbloom, and led him to a clear open field. **

**"Look at this" She said as she guided him to a seat in the grass next to her. She pointed up through the trees, the area above her head was totally clear of branches and leaves, all of a sudden the starlit sky in the great hall seemed dim and foggy in comparison to the brilliance of the stars above them. He lay back in the grass, arms behind his head as a pillow. **

**"Come here you." He said, reaching for her waist awkwardly, refusing to sit up. She lay down next to him with her head on his chest, tuning her breathing to his. **

**"So," he said softly "I'll have to find out who you are eventually, so tell me one thing about yourself and I'll do the same, and then we'll figure it out slowly." His voice was warm, and sweet, like thick syrup, devoid of the inflections it had the first night she had met him, but just a thought to toffee and she nuzzled in closer to where he was. **

**"Okay, well, I've ridden a dragon before." **

**"Oh that's not fair!" He burst out, "that's not even really something relevant, it's just some weird fact." **

**"Hey you made the game, you didn't make rules" She said chuckling softly and throwing her arms around his torso, cheek to his ribs, listening to his heart beat methodically. **

**"Okay, fine, I've eaten at a muggle fast-food restaurant." She rolled over some so that she was on top of him, propping myself up with my arms. **

**"That's worse than mine!" She said "I mean really, who hasn't" **

**"I can name three or four people…" He said before knocking her arms out from under her, landing her right on top of him, "But there are better things to use your mouth for." He said before gently cupping her face in his hands and pulling it close. **

**Just as the evening was coming together perfectly, the potions decided to give out. **

**She ran her hands through his hair, and began to notice that it was getting somewhat longer and thinner. I broke from the kiss, **

**"We have to go, the potions…" She whispered. He shrugged and pulled her back into the kiss. **

**"No, I mean it, we need to go." **

**"Fine, I'll stay here a bit longer so you can get back without seeing too much of your real face…" He seemed sad, but it was what needed to happen.**

**(AN: If you enjoyed it, please R&R)**


	7. 6 Boil My Blood

AN: I just loved having fun with Draco in this chapter

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 6

**(AN: Shorter, but very fun to write. Draco's character is so much great fun to play with, R&R, -Richard S.)**

**"So that was it?" Draco asked her, in astonishment and bewilderment. It had been a week since her semi-date with the mystery Gryffindor boy and she had just finished telling Draco all about it. She smiled at the thought of her night, before shaking her head "yes" and letting out a small sigh. **

**"I know it's odd, but it was so much fun, I felt like I knew him, but at the same time, it was great knowing there was nothing wrong I could say or do, like there was nothing I could do that he would hold against me." Draco just shook his head at her, staring at her, mockery glimmering in his eyes. **

**"Like any guy would hold something against you!" He burst out finally. She smirked.**

**"Oh, there are things that guys want to hold against me…" She started, tilting so that Draco could see down the front of her V-neck sweater, Draco joined in with glee, flirtatious innuendoes were his favorite kind of conversation.**

**"Well, there was that one thing I've never quite let you get off the hook about."**

**"That's because you need me to get it off at all." He glared at her comment but moved on.**

**"Apparently so does the rest of Hogwarts, because everyone seems to get your help"**

**"At least I'm needed! But hey even the poor kids who can't get any like to watch…like you for instance."**

**"I do not! You know damn well I don't watch!"**

**"Than how do you not miss, or worse just fall over and break an ankle?"**

**"To some, these things come naturally." He said closing his eyes and nodding his head like an ancient guru. She smacked him on the head and moved closer to where he was sitting in front of the fire, instantly feeling better as the warmth from the flame licked at her all but bare legs.**

**"Awww, you're so sweet, but really I've just been taught by experts."**

**"Well, I could teach you a bit more…as long as your nameless boyfriend doesn't object."**

**"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend, who just so happened to experience the greatest kiss on earth and needed another one." She flipped her hair in a conceited but comical manner as she spoke, turning to face Draco. He played along.**

**"Oh, of course, I mean I could kiss you all day!.. You're such a little bitch you know?" He said as she did miss universe waves and blew kisses at an imaginary crowd. **

**"Don't be jealous just because all the other guys get 'hullo' and 'goodbye' kisses and you don't." Draco thought for a moment before responding, and in the mean time she moved to rest her head on his shoulder. **

**"Actually I've been meaning to talk to you about that…" He trailed off in a low mumble. **

**"It'd go to your head, Jackquinn's got a freakishly close family it's normal for him, Dolan and Christian don't give a fuck, Fred and George cringe half the time, Ron blushes like crazy if I catch him off guard; so it's worth the reaction, Harry only ever got one, and that was after a mid night trip to the kitchens the day before our first potions test, Cedric was cut off after we broke up, and Clause is like Dolan and Christian. You on the other hand, you would take it way too seriously, just like Harry did. The next day the whole school would be giving me cat calls and wolf whistles due to the fact that I fucked you." She shrugged a little towards the end to make Draco feel a bit better. He sighed and sat silent for a moment, putting an arm around her shoulder, and running his hand up and down her arm, warming is before playing head on hers.**

**"But, you get calls and whistles any way, and…no one…would have to know." He said as he sat up and turned to face her. She closed her eyes as he moved with in an inch of her face, his own lids closed, and just as his lips were about to meet hers, a book was placed in his way. **

**She let out a good laugh at Draco's horrified face when he realized that she shouldn't taste like a leather book cover. "What the hell? I thought we were having a moment? Dear god, you'll make out with people you don't know, but I try and actually get emotionally close to you, and I get a mouth full of book." Draco was virtually fuming as he pulled a blanket off the adjacent couch and threw it at her. "You look like a fucking whore, cover yourself up!" He shouted as he moved away from where she was sitting. Illy ignored him and focused on his first comment, **

**"Like you could be emotionally close to anyone but yourself!" She shouted, but soon after regretted the words. She swallowed hard and glanced at the ground. He sat up straight and looked down at her, debating whether or not he should kill her or start crying. Out of no where an unnerving calm came over him and he reached for my hand, she pulled away but he still spoke in a velvet smooth voice as he inched closer to her. **

**"You're afraid of commitment, you like all these pointless relationships because they mean you can keep running from having to feel like you or anyone you care about could get hurt. Well guess what princess? You're hurting them anyway, running back and forth between them, breaking their hearts with every step you take! You'll have everyone you know hating one another and you'll have no one to blame but yourself, all because you just couldn't make the simple decision to actually reciprocate feelings for the people who care about you! You're a whore and terrible friend" He almost spat his last seven words at her before he got up and went to his dorm, leaving her stunned and glued to her spot on the floor. 'Typical Draco to leave me after deciding to take a break from frigid bastard mode; he just loves to make girls come after him' She thought as she tried to stand. 'Little prick thinks he can have anything he wants, well I'll just teach the Prince about asking nicely.' She climbed up the stairs, reels turning evilly and with twisted intent inside her head. **

The next day she woke up two hours before dawn and went for a run. The lake may have been full of freaky as hell monsters from Hagrid's excursions, but it still made for great exercise, in a gym devoid school, she was used to waking up early and getting plenty of exercise when she lived with her parents. Their excursions often required daily on foot travel and plenty of manual labor, as they disguised themselves as muggle anthropologists to gain access to high security archeological digs and such. The sun was just starting to come up as she began to head down to the dorms. She hoped and prayed that no one would be awake, due to that fact that as cute as the sofee's and tank top with a messy ponytail look was, sweat was no pretty thing for a girl to be covered in. Sadly, her luck decided to save it self for more important things, as the twinkle of Christian's eyes was the first thing that greeted her as she came into the common room.

"Good morning beautiful, and what, pray tell, moved you to take a four AM dip in the lake?" He teased. Illy felt her cheeks warm up under her skin, but she was already flushed and out of breath, so it really wouldn't make much difference appearance wise.

"Well, I wanted some alone time with Dolan, but he said he couldn't cheat on you…so I tried to drown myself." Dolan popped his head up from behind the couch he was sitting on.

"What the hell? How did my sexuality get drug into this?" Christian and Illy laughed and she headed up to the dorm to shower. 

"Draco… Draco get your spoiled fucking ass up!" Dolan let out a shout finally. Draco stirred from his dreams and looked at the rather pleased Christian and Dolan who were staring at him from the end of his bed.

"Can I help you?" Draco sneered. Dolan smirked and handed him a letter.

"Oh, and you might want to finish your business before you head downstairs, it looks like you were having a good time." Christian jeered before the pair headed out the door sniggering and beginning to fight with one another. "…he would not shave her head!" Draco distantly heard Christian mumble as they walked downstairs. Draco sat up and opened the letter: _Hope you had dirty dreams! It's a nice potion no? Nothing you'll be learning in class either! –Illy _

Draco growled before throwing the letter and getting out of bed.


	8. 7 One Step Beyond Revenge

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 6

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 7

(AN: I would like to warn every one, this chapter is more explicit than the previous ones, if you feel uncomfortable reading than don't.)

"KILLIOUS ENQUIROUS!!" He screamed, as he came down the stairs, still in black silk pajama pants and no shirt, but minus the morning wood. "Get over here NOW!" He fumed as Illy sheepishly peeked up from the book she was reading, _The psychology of painful pranks: a vademecum of vengeful plots_.

Having gotten dressed she was looking a bit better than earlier. Her skirt was normal length today, and had black garter-hooked stockings beneath it, completing the rather thrown together look her messy bun and converse sneakers implied. "Draco, cool it, it was a joke ok?" She said as calmly as she could before setting down my book and softly padding off towards the door.

"I'm not fucking with you Illy, you're in deep shit, now get over here!" She just smiled and walked through the door, bag in hand, toward breakfast.

"You stupid bitch, you can't just walk away from Draco Malfoy!"

The room around Draco was completely dead, no one moved, and no one spoke. Draco looked around, narrowing his eyes in on Dolan and Christian. "You two, come with me…the rest of you, you saw nothing." He walked to the door at a brisk pace. Draco was infuriated to the point that his blood was boiling; he didn't even notice the freezing temperature of the dungeons around him as he hurried after Illy barefoot. His mind was moving ten thousands thoughts a second, as he went through his catalogue of vengeful and cruel possible actions. The words in the note ran through his head as he watched Illy's skirt sway, giving him peaks at her garters, a grim smile passed his lips as the ultimate thought came to mind, if she liked playing dirty he happened to sit on that throne as well.

"Illy, turn around and stop running away like a little girl!" He shouted down the hall, her pride forced her to stop; she balled her hands into fists and turned around to begin a shouting match… just in time to be greeted by an _immobulus _from Draco. She stood in horror as he had Dolan and Christian pick her up and place her in the nearest room. It was an old storage closet full of crates filled with unmarked and unused crap. Dolan and Christian stood at her sides, fighting instincts to protect her and obey Draco, they could only hope that he wasn't capable of the disgusting behavior most of his family was. "Leave." He told them, pointing to the door. "Stand outside and keep a look out, if you don't think you can stomach that go get Crabbe and Goyle." They looked apologetically at Killious and slipped quietly away, Dolan beginning to tear as he took a last glance before shutting and door and going to find Crabbe and Goyle; he may have been loyal to Draco Malfoy, but he loved Illy Enquirous like a sister, so Draco could fuck himself. He turned to Christian who's face conveyed confusion in place of the rage that pulsed through Dolan's veins, "I'm going to go find Vincent and Greg, I'm going to tell them to come here, then I'm going to walk with moderate speed to find Snape and explain to him that I believe Killious to be in danger, if they're still in there when we get back, she'll be needing my help."

Draco came within inches of Illy's body, the heat from his anger warming her skin the closer he came. He put an arm on the wall behind her head, his muscles flexing and tightening as he moved. His shirt was still off, and his abdominal muscles looked like they had been sculpted from marble in the dim light.

"Now, listen closely, you little bitch. I'm going to go ahead and cut the shit, and ask you exactly what I want to know, got it?" All she could do was grunt, which earned me a smirk from his pale, callous face. He touched her lips gently, wickedly, with his wand, drawing lines on them with its smooth tip. He seemed to calm down now, becoming just as stoic, and withdrawn as the day she met him.

"So Illy…what's all this boil down to? I guess I really did peg you exactly last night didn't I…" His voice was ludicrously smooth, and at the same time it was like being bathed in ice. He smiled smugly and pushed a few stray hairs from her face with the wand. "Sort of, hit the nail on the head." He said pushing his knee forward on her legs, forcing them to move apart enough to make room for his, as he stepped even closer to her. "You really are sad, I mean at least I have an excuse, anyone who knows my father can explain why I am the way I am…" He was now cheek to cheek with her, whispering in her left ear as he slipped his right arm around her side. "but you, what do you have to say for yourself? You're just a manipulative bitch who doesn't want to get hurt." His chest pressed against her shirt, and she shivered slightly as goose-bumps ran over her skin. He heard her take in a sharp breath as he used the hand he now had on her lower back to pull her closer.

He pulled his face away from hers, so that he could look her in the eye.

"Now sweetie, do I scare you?" She narrowed her eyes to challenge him, but as much as she tried to hate him…she had never seen him sexier. He could smell her emotions, like some kind of animal, and was just as much of a snake as he looked.

"No? No this gets you off doesn't it? So what, when I'm nice to you I'm easy to reject, but when I'm more powerful than you are" he pushed her into the wall mid sentence, and quite roughly, she could tell that the skin on the back of his right hand had broken on the tips of his knuckle, as her head made a loud smacking noise on the wall. "then you like it. You feed my god-complex girl, and you only prove my father right," He leaned in to kiss her motionless lips, but instead ran his tongue across them once, and bit down sharply, trying to hide his self-disgust just as much as she was trying to make his spell nullify itself. Warm blood dotted her lower lip, "you can have anything you want; all you have to do is take it." He kissed her, this time spreading her blood to his lips. Her body became even more ridged, and her eyes grew wide as he moved the hand on her lower-back to the back of her head, pressing her lips into his. He stopped the kiss and licked the blood off his lips, savoring the sweet metallic taste on his tongue. He felt like he was possessed, as his eyes narrowed on her as he lost the majority of his inhibition,

"And Illy," He spoke slowly, unbuttoning the top button of her shirt, "I…want…you…" one more button gone with each word, her shirt was totally undone. "and I want you right now!" He pulled her shirt open. She was intoxicated in his scent again, just like she had been that last time one of them had fled the common room, but things were more mixed up this time, more perverse, almost more enjoyable, and indisputably more dangerous.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" George asked Fred as they stumbled through the dark, being cautions not to make their wands too bright, for fear of ending up in the wrong passage and being discovered.

"Course I am, you think I want to miss the greatest prank ever played on Draco Malfoy?" Fred retorted. "This should lead to a storage closet that's only like twenty-feet from the Slytherin house door, I just hope we didn't miss the fun…or end up in Filch's office on accident again"

"Yeah, for her sake, he just might kill her for this one." George jeered as they made their way along the hall.

They had been walking for some thirty minutes, getting down to the dungeon levels and bypassing Snape wasn't exactly easy, but they weren't planning to be stopped by Hermione's insistent questioning, so they were about ten minutes later than they planned on being. They checked the map one more time, noting that they were only about forty more feet away.

"You know, I had expected a better kiss from someone who used their mouth as much as you do." Malfoy smiled, and then lifted his wand again, "but I guess I'll be fair, you seem to be enjoying yourself." He lifted the curse from her mouth, leaving the rest of her ridged still, and leaned in again. She remained just as still as she was when she had no choice in her actions, but not getting lost in the moment was hard, Draco wasn't exactly new to this game either, and there was no way he had gotten this good from the little sluts at school.

"Oh, come on Illy, I'm playing nice…so you had better start doing the same." He whispered as he placed his left hand on her thigh, just inside her skirt.

"This is crazy Draco, even for you! So what, where does this go? You rape me in some storage closet and when I tell, you have your Daddy make it go away? What then, your friends know you'd do it, they'd never talk to you again…Dumbledore would have you thrown out, even Snape would be appalled after this!" She spoke as sternly as possible while he kissed her neck and collarbone nibbling on the soft skin here and there, moving down towards her bra.

He raised his eyebrows at her, looking right into her eyes as he spoke,

"Black lace and bows, could I expect any less?" He started moving toward the clasp. "And I know you better than you think, you'd never tell a soul, you'd be too embarrassed at how much you enjoyed yourself; now do me a favor, and stop acting as though your going to get caught and for that matter stop acting like you don't like this, or this could get more violent and less fun." He moved the hand on her thigh up higher, dragging his fingernails up her leg, from the outside to the inside of her thigh, stopping only when his hand brushed her panties. "Now kiss me like you should have last night Illy."

He moved to her face again, kissing her, delighted to see that she was complying, not noticing that she was still doing her best to hold back.

In the meantime a certain Dolan Lacroix was headed to the office of Professor Servius Snape with some news that, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, just might force him to commit murder.

Dolan barged into Snape's office loudly, and wasted no time getting across the room as he threw three or four first year Slytherin girls out of the way. He began banging on the teachers office door, splintering the wood with his balled fist, "Open up the fucking door, this is important!" He screamed. Snape swung the door open and stared down at Dolan, fury in his gleaming black eyes.

"And what is it that requires so much abuse of my door…no to mention several other students?" Snape asked coolly, raising his eyebrow at the girls who were ogling Snape and seething at Dolan.

"Cut the I'm-a-scary-bastard bullshit, Illy might be getting the shit kicked out of her as we speak." Dolan explained, as he grabbed Snape's hand and drug him down the hall. His demeanor altered entirely as soon as Illy was mentioned, and he was struggling not to tell Dolan to run, but he had to keep himself under control, he had worked with the dark lord for years, something this trivial shouldn't be scaring him this much.

"Explain…and let go of my hand!" Snape demanded. Dolan released his hand.

"Sorry, you're the same height as Clau- erm, she really pissed Draco off, well actually he pissed her off, but he was right, but not this morning"

"Stop babbling you dunce and explain coherently, what happened, and you should probably start at the beginning."

"Ok, well last night Draco was trying to do his whole I'm a charming fop bullshit and Illy embarrassed him pretty badly, so he brought up personal stuff about her having commitment issues and hurting all her friends, so she decided vengeance was in order, so she writes him this note that pretty much blames his standard every guy morning wood on a potion that she didn't even give him, well he goes nuts and chases her down, uses an immobulus on her, and drags her into a dark broom closet!" Snape was now moving faster than Dolan, who was jogging to keep up.

"Just so I'm totally clear, how do you know all this?" Snape inquired through gritted teeth.

"Me and Killous talk a lot, I don't really feel comfortable sleeping in the boys dorm, so I just crash in the common room, and well after the fight last night she brought down a book to go through for idea's, we ended up deciding on this together, she's in the storage closet right down the hall from dorm." Snape looked at Dolan oddly.

"We need to talk after all of this…in my office."

"Just push those crates aside." Fred told George, holding up his want to provide some light. The crate slide out of the way and Draco whipped his head around to see the Weasly twins coming from the back of the room. The room was still as Fred and George looked at Draco, who was looking anything but innocent, as his shirt was off, and he was plenty excited about the fact that their immobilized best friend was pushed against the wall, almost shirtless, with Draco's hand up her skirt and her bra about to fall off.

"FRED!" Illy screamed out, whimpering as he shook off the shock of the situation. She began to sob uncontrollably, which was hard considering her limited mobility, "Fred, George, you came!" Fred looked straight at Malfoy, who withdrew his hand and took two steps back. _Immobulus_ Fred shouted at Draco. George rushed to where Illy was, taking his cloak off and wrapping her in it.

"He froze her Fred, she couldn't even move!" George cried to his brother, almost tearing himself as he returned her mobility with a quick _Enervate_.

Fred moved closer to Malfoy,

"You disgusting, perverted, filthy, whoremongering, worm of a human, I should just kill you right here, we could pack your dead body in one of these crates and no one would find you until they could smell your carcass rotting!" Just as Fred was about to unleash untold pain on Draco the door swung open, Crabbe and Goyle looked at the situation like dumb cattle.

"Get him back to his bed…and he might want Madam Pomfry." Illy finally instructed the twins. George looked from her to Malfoy to Fred, totally confused as Malfoy's minions removed him from the room. Illy crumpled to the floor next to George, who tried his best to comfort her.

Fred on the other hand was a tiny bit more interested in why she had just removed Draco from his imminent doom.

"Why did you tell them to get him? And why on Earth would he need madam Pomfry? I hadn't even busted him up yet." She looked at Fred and stood up quickly.

"I'll talk about this some other time…I need a new shirt so just let me go get changed…I'm sorry, but I'll explain later, at breakfast okay?" The twins looked confused, but they nodded, and after some quick hugs and kisses they were all on their way.

As the twins left the room together Fred ran awkwardly into Dolan, and George into Snape.

"Where is Ike?" Everyone looked at Snape, dumbfounded. "Miss Enquirous!? Where is she!" He demanded, looking like he was about to tear.

"She just went back to her dorm…to go change her shirt." George explained.

"Is she ok? What the hell did the bastard do to her?" Dolan demanded.

"He had her immobilized, her shirt was unbuttoned, and his had was part of the way up her skirt, but he hadn't done anything to her yet she didn't have a scratch on her, and after we found them she actually said he was the one who needed to go see Pomfry, the whole thing was very confusing." George explained.

"It was a bunch of bloody fucking bullshit! That's what it was!" Fred reeled in George's direction.

"Calm yourself Weasly, your brother was explaining the situation, not condoning anyone's behavior" Snape said, placing a hand on Fred's shoulder, and regaining his cool composure. "No one's going to get in trouble, there's nothing hear that we can really put against Malfoy, and before you decide to get into a fight you can't win might I remind you that Lucious is more powerful that you realize."

"Fine, but…" Dolan began before giving up. He let out a sigh and the twins looked over at him, realizing for the first time that he was there, meaning he was the one who had called a teacher, on one of his best friends.

"What important is that Ill's safe" They said in unison, looking back to Snape who had begun to leave.

"And thanks for coming to help her, I was worried you'd just ignore me if something involved Draco." Dolan said as he began to walk away with the professor.

"Normally I would have, but Ike, I mean Illy, she's important to the school." Snape explained, Dolan looked confused,

"How so?"

"You'll figure out soon enough. We have something we need to talk about it I'm not mistaken don't we?" He asked. Dolan's cheeks turned rose red and he followed just behind Snape all the way back to his office in silence.

(AN: If you're on the edge of your seat over this thrilling cliff-hanger than R&R, - Richard S.)


	9. 8 I'm Wong, but You're Not Right!

AN: He's such an ass, but it's amazingly captivating no

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 8

(AN: Short, but important, and better than that, psychologically unnerving!)

Illy hurried up the stairs to her room and noticed that the common room was clear of students. But it was breakfast, so she brushed it off and opened her trunk to get a new shirt, and a baggy vest to put over it, she felt filthy, but there was no time for a shower.

"I was right…wasn't I?" she spun around to see a very solemn Draco standing in the doorway, shutting the door behind him. "You liked me then, when I was harsh, most girls hate that, they want cute romance not-" A slap to his face cut him off.

"That gives you no right!" Illy was red in the face, and starting to cry a little. He swallowed hard, knowing that now was not a good time to become indignant and foolish.

"You could have stopped me at any second after I released your lips. You know it and so do I; why do you think I did it? I may have rage issues but I'm not a fool, I knew when to give you an honest chance to say no and you didn't take it! So I was right!" She was now buttoning up her new shirt and putting on the loose vest, without making even one motion to respond.

"Even now, look at you! You don't even turn around to put on a new shirt, you just take off your clothes and think nothing of it! You won't deny that what I'm saying is true. Admit it, you like it when I'm rough, and when I tell you what to do, and more than that you do like me, and I did peg you last night!" Draco looked like he had just solved the greatest puzzle known to mankind "and that's why you like it, because it keeps you from feeling like the attachments you make are yours, it makes it feel distant, like it was something someone else was doing to you, not like something you were taking part in" His body was now blocking the door way.

"Move Malfoy" was all she would say to him.

"Then admit that if you would have let go of yourself back there you would have been every bit as caught up in things as I was, because in honesty you do give a shit about me! You want me just as badly as I do, don't think that I didn't notice how hard it was for you to not let loose! I may not me as smart as you, but I'm not dumb, now admit it!" She moved to push him out of the way, but he grabbed both of her wrists, but not in a harsh threatening way, in a soft, kind way.

"Have it your way Killious Quintessence Enquirus, I can be whatever kind of man you want." And with that, Draco Malfoy stole a whole other kind of kiss from her. This was soft, like warm silk brushing up against my lips, the kind of kiss that could make anyone melt where they stood; it lasted only two or three seconds, and ended with a soft tug on her lower lip, devoid of teeth, or rough passion, but it seemed minutes long, as she stood there with my legs giving out from underneath her. When the kiss was over he placed her hands back at my sides, and waited. She was baffled for a moment, but she understood what exactly he wanted.

"Fine…your right…" She grunted under her breath, but he didn't budge.

"Fine, you've got it all down okay! There's some things missing in your theory here and there, because there's a whole side of my story you'll never know about, but you got it. Are you happy? I love that you can be a million different people, just like me, and I love that you're callous but you always give me an out when I want one, but I hate you at the same time. Because you really do want to know what it is that makes me who I am, you even went and dug up my middle name, which I haven't heard spoken since the last time I saw my real mother, and I hate that when you're done pursuing me, and I give in you'll get bored, and I hate that we'll be playing at this forever, because you know I'm the same way! And I hate that you're the only person at this school I can imagine caring much about! And I hate your fucking short hair, it's so much better long!" Illy took a deep breath and he shifted his weight to one foot and stared her in the eye with that smart ass look.

"Go on, your flattery has me swooning"

"And that, I love that smart ass attitude you have, it drives me nuts sometimes! And you know what, you're dad is a prick, worse than you know, and for the rest of my life I'll hate you for your family, and I've never even spent more than thirty seconds with the bastard! And I like that you get so mad over stupid things because your raw passion for everything is so…just so…"

"Sexy" he tried.

"Shut it! But I hate that you can read my mind, and I hate that even though I'm interested in someone else you'll pursue headstrong knowing that it'll be almost enough to break me every time! And I love that aside from your hair the only way you could be sexier is if you picked up an instrument or had a great voice"

"Well I do sing a little." He offered.

"Stop interrupting I'm not done" She said pushing him against the door. "The fact that you think this is hot, not weird is more of a reassurance to me that I'm semi-normal than anything else, which is one more thing to like! But you remember this Draco, I will be no back up, summer fling, or plaything to any man, without full knowledge and willful consent, and you will never get that consent…" She pulled him out of the door way by his arm and gave him one last brief kiss, just as soft and sweet as the one he gave her, but the sensations were twice as hard not to give into. As he put his hand on her waste and gently held her chin between his thumb and fingers, his eyelashes brushing her cheek as he closed his eyes, getting exactly what he had wanted the previous night. She pulled away, repulsed with herself before shoving him toward the beds and opening the door to leave. "…and just so you know, the whole joke was the note, there's not potion that can give you morning wood. Every human gets sexually excited when they dream, even if your dream is about grandma's cookies, unless you're having a god awful nightmare, or if perhaps if a Dementor is in the room, which I might just try to work out as my next prank." She left quickly and quietly abandoning Malfoy to his own thoughts.

Illy had missed breakfast so she went strait to class which just so happened to be double potions, lucky her, and my lab partner for the day, of course, was none other than Malfoy. As she strolled to the class Fred caught up to her and stood awkwardly beside her as she walked, silent for quite a while.

"Look, I didn't think Malfoy would act like that…I really didn't, but…I'm trying to say that I'm sorry I encouraged the prank okay? I mean, really I shouldn't have, I should have known, I've been around him for two years, and you just met him…he's dangerous." Fred finished, shame seeming to emanate from his being.

"It's not your fault in the least, I've delivered things to Lucious more than once, like father like son, I should have known better."

"I doubt his Dad'd be dumb enough to try and get in your knickers though!" Fred joked and she laughed along nervously, feeling suddenly flushed and dizzy all at once.

"Yeah, well, I have potions with your favorite blond now…but don't be too hard on him. I talked to him again, and well, things aren't as bad as they looked, I'm not justifying him or anything, but still, he's not that bad." Fred brushed some hair out of her face softly, and picked up her hand.

"Well Killious, I'm just glad George and I made it in time, I don't know what I would have done…" he stopped and stared at the ground, still holding her hand, but now much tighter, as if he were clutching it to keep her from floating away. "…Hogwarts wouldn't be Hogwarts without you!" He finally said, as his eyes watered a little. He laughed, trying as hard as he could to cover it, and finally gave her a hug. I breathed in the smell of his shaggy red hair and whispered in his ear,

"You know red, for a boy, it's kind of weird that your hair smells like strawberries." He burst out laughing drawing quite a few glances from the students filing into class.

"Yeah, blame George, I just use his shampoo, so does Ron, it's funny actually, I call Ron strawberries sometimes just to mess with him, he's the only one who cares!" Illy smiled and hugged Fred again.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue." She said before giving him a peck on the cheek and heading into the room. As she passed through the doorway she noticed Draco with Vincent and Greg, pointing at Fred and saying something about his hair matching his face.

(AN: I hope that I've got your mind reeling! There will be many more psychological disorders and A-Typical sexual behaviors to follow in later chapters, please R&R, -Richard S.)


	10. 9 Photos

AN: This chapters a little bit sweet, in an odd, I get it but you don't, but you will sort of way…

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 9

Illy walked into the room and looked for a friendly face, desperately needing someone to tell her things would be okay from this point on; she spotted Hermione across the room and was at her side in a matter of seconds.

"So, what's on the reading list this week Herm?" She ask, as she adjusted her bun. Hermione looked up with a smile,

"Oh not too much, we have _Finding fauna and fighting fiends: a safety guide for field wizards_, _Bridging the Non-Magical world: a history of human and wizard myths_, and of course, because obviously I'm enjoying Rupert Roderick's works at the moment, _At Home in the Field of Research_. After a reading list like this we could probably keep up with your parents! By the way, do you think I might be able to join you one summer? Or maybe over winter break!" Hermione began getting worked up at the thought of real field research.

"To be honest, we don't spend much time together, I travel with them, but I really only reach destination and take off for deliveries from there, I do a lot of research work, but some how its rarely having to do with their big discoveries. Mostly they like to work on their own, so me being around is pretty useless, they don't feel comfortable with me there." Illy explained, the whole conversation was the opposite of what she was looking for.

"How could they be uncomfortable with you? They've been your parents since you were an infant right?" She asked confused.

"Look, when I was eleven I got injured pretty badly, something to do with falling off my broom, apparently it's a wonder I don't have a horrible fear of flying, but at any rate, I've been sort of different since then, they still love me and everything, they're just a little uncomfortable working around me, evidently I'm more inquisitive than I used to be…" Illy trailed off as she saw Ron and Harry walk in, Harry waved at her.

"What do you mean evidently? Don't you remember what you used to act like?" Herm was still talking, but Illy had lost all interest, as she looked from the now seated Harry to the entering Draco. She smiled and turned to Hermione.

"Hey I'm gonna go say 'hullo' to Harry ok?" She asked, but without waiting for a response she walked away, Hermione just chuckled and waved her off with a 'see you tonight' Illy made her way to the table that Ron and Harry sat at, she took one more glance at Draco, who was now trying to pass off his scabbed knuckles as more of the trauma he received from Buckbeak earlier that year.

Killious had been present for the original injury, but she was one of the few people who Draco usually didn't pretend with, after ten or fifteen minutes of screaming like a child he showed her his arm, which was entirely unscathed, Harry came closer to get a look but so save a fight Illy leaned down and kissed Draco's arm affectionately before letting him have it back, leaving Harry irritated, but less so than if he had actually seen Draco's uninjured state.

Illy walked up behind the two, who were discussing the potion they were supposed to be making that day, she placed and arm on the shoulder of each boy and squeezed their heads to her for a hug, before giving each a small kiss on the cheek. They smiled up at her, and Harry glanced over a Draco, who was now all but seething,

"What a load of shit, like a wound would show up almost a month later! He's such an arrogant asshole, I bet there isn't even anything wrong with his hand!" Harry turned his head to Ron, who nodded in agreement.

"Oh, there's something there…" Illy absentmindedly mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"He was harassing some girl this morning, accidentally busted up his knuckles…" She explained. "So anyway, what are you up to these days Strawberries?" Illy asked Ron,

"Oh…um not much I guess…wait what?" Rod began to turn shades of read all over his face. Before she could explain Snape walked into the room and sent stray students scrambling to their seats.

"That's the second Weasly I've seen turn the same color as their hair this morning!" Draco shouted out at Ron, who was too distracted talking to Harry about his shampoo to even notice that the entire class was now laughing at him. Illy took her seat next to Draco reluctantly, pulling her stool as far away from him as she could get it before actually settling in. Snape began the class and went over the procedures for the potion, it was a simple procedure and between herself and Draco, Illy was done within fifteen minutes and was just letting the potion finish brewing, stirring absentmindedly with one hand while she sped through the pages of her book with the other. She finished the last chapter on the book and slammed it shut with a sigh of irritation, she hadn't brought a back up, and Draco had been staring at her since class began, nursing his would, making her reliever her morning every time she looked at it. She turned to him,

"You can stop fucking acting like a pussy, you're not the one who almost got raped!" She whispered in a scolding tone.

"Neither are you." He smirked back in her direction.

"Just stop looking at me, it makes me feel even more filthy than I did before."

"No, you have no reason to feel dirty, and I'm not going to stop looking because you won't stop pretending that our morning ended with Fred and George." His voice was getting a little louder, but she was still the only one who could hear it over the chatter of the teams in the class.

"It's not like that was going to make me forgive you."

"I fucked up ok? I let my pants think for me, it happens. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"No! Because that's not even what you believe about the whole situation."

"Congratulations, you're not as thick as I thought. But in that case I have no reason to apologize, I wanted revenge for your prank and found out that you're into rough sex, big deal."

"It is a bloody big deal! You're such a bastard!-"

"Ah, well you'd be wrong there, my dad is alive, we just both wish it was otherwise"

"And yet you seem to model him so perfectly!" Illy was now speaking above a normal level and people had begun to notice.

"That's not even fair…and you know it." Draco lowered his head and snatched the spoon from her, stirring the cauldron violently as he did his best to look away from her now onyx eyes.

"I really don't give a shit, you don't play fair, why should I? Stay up late with my nightmares and see just how much alike you are!" She shoved her book away from her and checked the time. "It's been long enough. I'm going to get Snape to check this so I can get the fuck away from your spoiled rotten arse!" She exclaimed before getting up to put away their supplies properly so that Snape could look the potion over.

She walked up to Snape's desk, putting a noted bounce and sway to each step she took.

"We're ready to have you check our potion." She said cheerily, smiling at him.

"So you're done with your lovers quarrel now?" Snape asked; Illy's smile dissipated instantly.

"Servious, don't fuck with me today, if you have a problem with the men which I associate with we can talk about it in private." She informed in a hushed voice. Snape stood up and headed towards the table.

"Very well then." He said as he walked to Draco's side. Illy dropped a note in Harry's lap as she walked by, causing him to nock over a bottle when he jumped from the sudden disruption in his intent stirring.

He tapped Ron and had him take over until the potion was ready for the next step, as he unfolded the note that had been given him. Illy's hand writing was small, thin but loopy, crammed together so that words and letters were running into one another, and in purple ink:

"I'm sitting with the Gryffindor's at lunch today. Can you ask Ron to tell Fred and George to make sure they save me a seat? Thanks bunches scar-head, -Illy" Harry sniggered softly at the name, when it came from Draco it seemed cruel, but when it was from Illy it just seemed cute, funny, even affectionate. He turned to tell Ron to convey the message but the Red head was totally asleep, leaning on one hand like a pillow, with the potion bubbling fervently on a high flame.

Snape had just began to run through procedures with Illy and Draco when Ron let out a shriek, his foot had been crushed quite brutally by a heavy cauldron and their table seemed to have a large hole in it. Snape rushed to the table, agitated and having trouble comprehending how a simple hiccup curing potion could burn through a table and then turn to stone.

"What did you do Potter?" He spat Harry's last name, as if it were a horrible insult.

"The potion had gotten too hot, I tried to add the next ingredient but the feathers reacted badly and sent everything pouring out the edge, so I added the iron fillings and cut off the flame, but the acid had already weakened the table and the iron solidified and made the cauldron heavier, and then…umm, his foot is bleeding pretty badly." Harry pointed to Ron who was now whimpering in pains as his crushed foot began to bleed. Hermione rushed to his side, levitating the cauldron off his foot and moving to carry him up to the hospital wing.

"Do hurry miss Granger, the acid won't help the pain." Snape as Hermione did her best to carry Ron out the door. "Vincent, use your ridiculous bulk to help miss Granger with her freckled friend." Snape commanded and Crabbe scurried to take Ron from Hermione, who was now crying harder than Ron the more she looked at his foot.

Snape turned back to Harry who was panicking, "Twelve points from Gryffindor for almost severing a student's foot! And you didn't pass this test, jut in case you had any doubts, also, I'll be needing to see you after class." Draco sniggered loudly next to you, smirking at the expression of anguish on Harry's face. 

When the class finally ended most everyone had the time to turn in their potion Draco and Illy made an A, even though she had inadvertently sent Ron to the Hospital ward, on the plus side Hermione earned the Gryffindor eight points for helping Ron and making it back in time to finish her potion perfectly, of course. Just as the bell rang for lunch she heard Snape call Potter to talk with him. Harry gulped down his fear and stood behind as the class fled the room, laughing about the days events, or cursing about their grades. But she stood with Harry, just behind him actually, so that he didn't see her, but Snape did.

"Come." Snape gestured with his long bony fingers. Harry stepped forward, but Snape frowned, he stopped dead in his tracks, clearly panicking, but as Illy walked by she placed a soft finger on his shoulder. "Potter…you really think you're the more important student here?" Snape chuckled coldly and put an arm around her shoulder as he led her into his office, leaving Harry confused, and angry.

Snape's office was cluttered, but organized. The walls were lined with ingredients and strange objects and Illy smiled as she noted that a large majority of them were hand delivered by herself.

"Is there something I can help you with Miss Enquirus?" He asked harshly. Illy whipped her head around, from where her eyes had wandered to some pickled tad poles, and raised an eyebrow before putting her sneakers up on his desk and laughing.

"Oh please Servious, no one can hear us, I know you have enchantments on this room." He smiled a little in the right corner of his mouth and looked her over.

"You look ridiculous, Ike." He said getting to the point.

Ike was a very specific to Snape nick name that Illy had picked up two summers ago when she had first delivered something to him. He was out of the office, but Gringott's made a point of ensuring that she protected all delivered packages, and made sure that every customer knew who had handled their goods. At first she wasn't sure what to do about Snape's absence, but classes would start soon and no one was supposed to see her. Placing a weak _incarcerous_ on the box she left a note on the desk and showed herself out. The tag said: "Delivered by IQE, the box is charmed to protect it from snooping students" Snape spent weeks trying to form her initials into a name, so that he could thank her for taking care of his package, and could only come up with Ike. About a week and a half later Killious came to the school to drop off some special flutterby bush clippings for Fawkes.' As she headed back through one of the castles many secret passages she ran into Snape, successfully giving him an accidental bump to the chin with her broom. He beamed down at her, looking almost teary eyed, though it couldn't have been from the bruise now bluing on his chin, and took the opportunity to say "Thank you for your delivery, and your clever behavior Ike." Illy gave him an odd look and he came out and asked her how to pronounce her name, she burst into a fit of laughter that made him turn bright red before explaining that I was for Illy and the rest were initials, and since then, she had been Ike.

"Oh come off it, so I had a rough morning, you're not looking so tidy yourself." She said pointing to his hair.

"No, not today, you look fine today, I mean every other day. You've got barely a thing on and you're prancing around this school like you own it! It's insane! I mean just the other day I could see way too much cleavage and I know I was not the only one, I could even see your...erm, undergarments…"

"Don't start, I wear less than this when I do deliveries, so why's it matter now?"

"You weren't around a bunch of teenage morons then! You think I don't notice how half the school is tripping over themselves for you? You've turned this place inside out, Fred, George, Ron, Draco, Blaise, Cedric, Christian, Jackquinne, Dolan, Clause, even Harry gets his damn tongue tied around you! And that's just half the people, even Mattie talks about you…I'm worried."

"Please, just because I don't look like you, and because kids here take notice means I'm doing something wrong?"

"You know damn well I'm up all night working, it's a wonder I have time to bathe let alone spend hours grooming as I'm sure you do."

"I do not! And I have bad mornings too, I mean look at me today!" Just as she finished the sentence she realized that she had mentioned her morning too many times, Snape narrowed his eyes on her. "Don't you dare." Illy threatened. "I'll never forgive you; my thoughts are my own, as are my memories." He blinked finally and looked away.

"Ike, I knew your Dad…and I knew your mom, and before they died they asked me to look out for you. I'm just worried is all…what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked, finally dropping the subject.

"Leave Potter be, he didn't do anything, I did. It was funny in all honesty, he was following procedure perfectly and I dropped a note into his lap, I needed to talk to Fred and George, I should've known that he wouldn't wait until after class to open the thing. Besides, its not as if he crushed Draco's foot" She winced a little as she said his name, Snape raised an eyebrow but stayed silent. "I have a grudge to settle with him…there really is no way around this is there?" She stood up and walked around the front of Snape's desk, taking a seat on its top.

"You can look…but don't get mad, and when I say you're done you are…deal?" She offered. Snape's eyes met hers again, pleased at the chance to invade someone's thoughts.

"Deal." He said. He stood up and she followed suit so that he could fix his gaze and have easy steady concentration. Her morning played out before her, along with the conversation she had with Draco the night before, but just as she was re-entering your dorm she stopped Snape.

"Enough, here's where you need to stop." He closed his eyes and pulled her close to him, hugging her around the neck, and kissing the top of her head softly. She could tell that he was about to come undone.

"He'll never come near you again he whispered." Illy broke the embrace and looked up at Snape. Over the past two years she had grown very close to him, he was a father figure that made up for my adoptive parents who were never around. She rarely thought of them as not my own family except when she was around Snape, then it seemed like this was the kind of father she was supposed to have, one who worried about her, and yelled at her for the clothing she wore, and threatened the boys that didn't treat her right, as opposed to one who brushed off her problems and kept her out of school so that he could turn her into his personal brain-child.

"You can't do that, he's your second favorite, and on the inside, he's a good guy. There's more to things than you realize, so please, just don't panic over nothing okay?" He nodded his head and hugged her again.

Illy sat down on the desk again, trying to think of a way to lighten the mood somewhat, she looked down at his desk, it was less cluttered than usual and had become more personal over the last two years, as its vacant corners were filled with a clutter of odd gifts she had brought him from her trips. Vanishing depth boxes, everlasting candles with hand crafted bases, several books of native charms and spells, a book on human healing potions, a picture of herself and Snape soaking wet and looking miserable came to life as her eyes stopped on it, the figures began doing their best to wring their robes out, only to be covered in water again by the tidal wave of a splash created by the giant squid in the lake behind them.

"I remember that day…you were harvesting globbersnout eggs for a potion and asked me to come along…damn lake nearly swallowed us, and then after we got out that kid Colin decided to take a picture, I had to chase him down soaking wet to get it back." She fondly watched as the figures laughed at one another, and began to pick the sticky, ping-pong ball sized eggs off their clothing. Snape smiled at the wooden framed photo that accompanied three or four others on his desk. "How'd you get that one?" She asked, pointing to a white framed photo, featuring her in a sun dress, on a beach in Guam, smiling as she held a large Fobbler in her arms, the purple gray dog sized creatures nose hung down to her knees and its leathery skin made it look almost like a miniature elephant.

"You mum sent it to me last summer, said you were having a great time in Guam…which was ironic because the very next day you were here telling me that they had only let you stay on sight for two days." He explained as Illy moved aside another picture of the two at a dark arts awareness banquet where Illy had accompanied him, her spaghetti strapped black dress contrasting with her tan skin and the white gold jewelry around her neck and on her ears. "Last winter's banquet," She was distracted now though, by the silver framed picture in her hand, "Will you be taking this lovely young lady this year?" She asked, staring intently at the tan woman in the photo. Her eyes were a dazzling ocean color, and her hair was bright blond, with an electric blue under layer, she was standing outside a large brick home in a tropical location, torn denim jeans, bruise spotted legs, cuts and scrapes every where from her nose to her sandaled toes, her white shirt just thin enough to show the silhouette of a black bikini underneath, her busty form posing for the camera with grace as she moved from one modeled stance to the next, laughing and waving in between, each time she lifted her arm Illy could see the dark mark on her wrist.

"If she were still alive I would." He said taking the photo from Illy and putting it back into place, hidden from plain sight behind the others, "But she died a long time ago…just about thirteen years ago actually." He said snapping his fingers and turning the photo black.

"Why do you hide it? Who was she?" Illy asked, Snape breathed in, debating in his mind if the timing was appropriate.

"You better get to lunch you haven't eaten yet, and take Potter with you, you got him off the hook." He said as he pushed her out the door, handing her a book on defense against the dark arts as she left, as if he thought Draco really knew any dark arts. He slammed the door and locked it behind Illy, she was about to turn around and begin to bang on it, but she noticed the confused looking Harry.

"Let's go funshine." She said as she exited the classroom, lacing her arm through Harry's and heading off down the hall towards lunch. Snape smiled as he watched her go, but when he turned back to his office he slipped down to the ground, head in his hands, and cried until his eyes were puffy and his sobs were but a whisper.

(AN: Even Snape has secrets and mysterious half naked women on his desk! R&R, -Richard S.)


	11. 10 She'd Never Choose You!

AN: Last chapter I'm doing for a while, PLEASE R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 10

(AN: For those of you who had started this story at another point in time you'll be pleased to know that this chapter is leading into an entirely new part of the plot, R&R –Richard S.)

"So," Harry began as the two sat down to eat. "What'd it take for him to let me off the hook?" Illy smiled and shrugged before taking a nibble of a hot role, and sipping her pumpkin juice.

"Not much really, I mean I just explained that it was my bad, and that I should've told you to wait until after class to look over the note." Harry looked at her questioningly but began to stuff his mouth full of roast beef sandwich, drenched in aju. She sniggered at his manners before turning to my left to speak with Ron.

"So, have enough beauty rest now Strawberries?" She asked him as she traded off her tall glass of pumpkin juice for a small teacup of earl gray with lemon.

"How in the bloody hell do you know about that? Did Fred and George tell you? Uggghhh they did! Those two can't leave me be for a moment can they…" Ron began to mumble curses under his breath.

"Ronald, you really shouldn't use such fowl language, it's simply not becoming of a young man." Hermione scolded him.

"But Herm, they ruin everything!" He complained to her.

"It's not as if they told a girl you fancy, it's just Killious." She sighed and turned away from her book to try and keep his mood from changing, but her small smile of encourage turned to a frown as Ron's face turned red again. "…you don't fancy her….do you Ron?" She asked, seeming broken. He looked at her puppy dog eyes and decided to use his brain, a rare thing for him.

"No! Of course not, she's like a sister to us, I mean look at Fred and George, we're all like one…big family." Ron said, defeat in his voice, but a hint of satisfaction overcoming it, as Hermione's face lit up once again.

"Illy, I just don't understand how you can do it." Hermione began, looking over to Illy who was across the table with her legs cross, and her hair now undone, gently waving around her waste, filling the air with a smell of pomegranate, cloves, cinnamon, and fresh water, the center of her hair was still damp from not being given time to dry in the morning, and the scent was spreading throughout the area.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a monotone voice as she tossed aside her roll and sipped her tea.

"Look at you! You just throw on sneakers and your uniform and every boy in the school is drooling, even Draco can't stop staring!" She proclaimed as she slipped the rubber band off Illy's wrist and used it to pull her own hair back.

"Trust me, you don't want to be me, I've got enough Draco problems for the whole lot of you, and me talking with you is probably making it worse." she said, glancing at the twins who had just come in to the hall laughing uncontrollably. "What the hell did you two pull without me?" she asked them as they took their seats in front of her.

"We helped you get Draco back." They chimed in unison.

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"We swapped out every one of his toiletries, shampoo is dye, conditioner makes his hair fall out, soap's got itching powder, face scrub makes his skin change shades of red and gold for a nice team spirit twist, and his towel causes spontaneous hair growth on contact!" The twins burst into laughter again. Illy laughed along with Fred and George as each of them told their own version of what the scene would be like, becoming more and more hysterical as each story was told. Harry's turn came around and while at first he seemed shocked that any one had asked his thoughts he was quick to join in on the game. Just as we all left to move towards History of Magic Illy caught a glimpse of the very upset looking Jackquinne heading away from the Slytherine table at an alarming rate, Clause ran after him but just before he reached him a large group of Raven claw girls began to crowd him.

"…and just as he thinks life can't get worse Pomfry will tell him that she has nothing that can cure the excess hair!" Harry finished and Illy chuckled along, though his story was a bit unimaginative compared to Ron's, in which Draco became a refuge that lived in the sewers of Hogwarts covered in hair, and showing up only to cheer on the Slytherine games with his face gleaming of Gryffindor colors. She began to head off in Jackquinne's direction but Harry grabbed her arm, "Let me walk you to class." He offered. She looked at him oddly and then she noticed that the whole group had stopped moving and looked at me Fred and George looked like they still wanted to talk to her, but she wasn't quite ready to announce hat she was an inadvertent sadomasochist,

"Erm…sure. Thanks Harry." She smiled back at him.

One week zoomed by, with tests, quizzes, and mountains of homework. Draco still wouldn't talk to her, but he did give her looks like he really wished that he could break his own rules on occasion, even though his toiletries had caused quite a bit of chaos. Jackquinn's bed had been vacated all together, and he had been moved to a private area of the dorm for no apparent reason, but Snape had organized the sleeping arrangements so they were official. Study groups moved to his room on occasion, which was more or less a ten foot by six foot box with a bed, trunk, old carpet, and adjacent bathroom, and while the decorum was oddly feminine in some aspects, like the plethora of pictures with his muggle mother and aunt hung around the room in artistic collages and the always made bed with throw pillows, it was a good enough place for study groups when Illy drug her kotatsu along. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been spending more and more time with her and had decided to meet me her for a chess tournament that was to be held in Professor Flitwick's room, students had been told to bring their own chess sets, seating and tables if they wished, and food. Harry had asked, as his cheeks flashed rose tints, if she would come as his partner, being that whichever team got the mist wins as a whole won. She had agreed reluctantly, but Harry was blissfully unaware of the obligatory connotation in her voice as he locked her in a tight hug and spent the rest of the day latched on to her hand. The night before Harry had snuck to the kitchens to grab an ample supply of pastries, fruits, and had saved some of his blossoming bon-bon's from a specialty chocolate shop called "La Chocolat" in Daigon alley. He had been making a habit recently of walking her to classes, asking her to sit with him for meals, coming to extra study groups, increasingly insisting that she help him with astronomy homework, and even walking her back to her dorm at night.

Harry smiled at her as he, Ron, Hermione, Dolan, and she all walked towards the Slytherine dorm together.

"Do you really need to change your clothes just to go to the chess competition? I mean really, it's just going to a bunch of nerds sitting around playing games, whose there that you feel the need to impress? Neville Longbottom!" Ron complained as the group all came upon the stairs down to the dungeon.

"Yes I do, I had herbology today and leaving animal secretions on my clothing long enough to eat dinner was one thing, but I draw my line."

"And besides" Hermione said, huffing at Ron "It's not just a bunch of nerds, you're _my_ partner aren't you?" Ron sighed and threw his hands in the air.

"It's not as thought I was begging for the position or anything." He replied, with that the two began to fight, and headed back towards their own dorms to change.

"Kill me Harry, I mean it, just let me end my life now!" Ron yelled over his shoulder, Harry just smiled and gave him an imploring look that he was sure Illy hadn't caught.

"Alright, well we've got to get going, so we'll see you at the meeting." She said, giving Harry a little peck on the cheek as she descended the stairs with Dolan, who was entering with Trina, a slender sandy blond third year with thin rimmed glasses and blue eyes. They had been casually dating for a week or so, but Dolan personally seemed interested in little other than her standing as one of the less promiscuous Slytherin's.

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with Jackquinne?" Illy asked Dolan before he got a chance to ask her about Harry,

"No, I'm worried about him, he won't talk to me about it…He just looks so sad lately."

"I think that Clause really upset him. I saw Jacky run out of the great hall the other day and Clause tried to run after him but was otherwise detained." She could tell Dolan was becoming uncomfortable with the smallest mention of Jackquinn's name along side of Clause's.

"And then they just stopped having study groups with me, we've done our homework together every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday since school started, and now, nothing…" Dolan looked like he was going to explode if he didn't speak soon, but he was determined to keep what ever it was he wasn't telling me a secret.

"They were best friends and what? Now they just don't talk what did Clause do?"

"I'm not sure, but if he hurt him I'm going to kick the fuck right out of his smutty arse!"

"Ok, passionate about this a little Dolan?" Illy laughed at his reaction and put an arm around him. "Don't worry too much, it just looked like a little fight, I'm sure that they'll make up soon enough, besides I heard that they're entering the tournament tonight…jeeze I feel like such a looser right now!" She exclaimed as they reached the door.

"Not a looser, just a dork, now go get sexy for Neville" He jeered as he slapped her on the butt and shoved her in the direction of the girls rooms. He waved her off and turned around, into Draco's ice cold stare.

"Calm down mate, we're all friends here, it was just a joke." He explained, hoping to breeze over the worst of the conflict.

"You know she's mine." Draco sneered.

"She is not. She doesn't belong to anyone, she's not an object, and even if she was you're the last person whose possession she would be in. Fuck, she'd pick Harry long before you at this point."

"Shut the hell up! That's a pack of bloody lies and you know it!" Draco hurled back. Dolan stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned around to face Draco, his face placid and wise as he spoke,

"Draco, you practically raped her…for someone who seems to care about her so much you have a funny way of showing it. Harry does what a boyfriend should, he walks her to class, he carries her books, for Merlin sake the boy does internal summersaults every time she holds his hand or gives him a hug. If you want her….act like it! Everyone knows that she probably cares about you more than your own mother does, fuck she's the only human who cares about you more than you care about yourself, and she sure as hell cares more about you than you do her, that's what scares her. Look at her, there's something missing there, she's got attachment disorders, she doesn't sleep, she doesn't eat, she studies like crazy and uses books as a form of escapism, her parents treat her like they don't even know who she is, they haven't sent a single letter, Snape has some form of love for the poor girl, she's sadomasochistic I can tell that from just watching her play quiditch, and she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, but she can't remember why, meaning she has recurring night terrors, and to top the whole thing off she remains totally un-phased by any mention of pain, death, or even the dark lord. This girl is being protected, and she's protecting herself, she broken and you praying on her worst fears isn't going to fix her." Dolan finished his hushed speech and began walking up the stairs; Draco called out hollowly after him,

"You're wrong you know… she's not broken she's perfect… and there's no way she cares more than I do." Draco's voice faded to a whisper after the first few words, and if Dolan heard, he certainly wasn't acting like it.


	12. 11 For the Sake of Friendship

AN: Last chapter I'm doing for a while, PLEASE R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 11

(AN: Alright, this chapter is by far the shortest one so far, but I hope you like it anyway.)

Twenty minutes later Illy came back down stairs; her hair was pulled half up in a silver clip, embellished with blue stones that matched her dark blue ¾ sleeve top, and dark blue ballet flats. She had taken out all but one pair of earnings, silver hoops that matched her crystal ball necklace, and her eyes were lightly brushed in dark blue and silver sparkles. Draco was still sitting in the common room, reading through a thick black book entitled _Tell Tale Signs _by Schilliant Broadieum. Dolan was still getting ready in his room and besides Draco the room was bare. Illy walked to the chair Draco was reading in and came to sit on its black leather arm,

"How long are we going to be playing the silent game?" She asked. He didn't even glance in her direction. "Draco" She breathed out his name, feeling defeated, he was a wall and breaking him down would be impossible.

Shivers went down his spine when she sat next to him and spoke, but when she said his name…every hair on his body stood on end.

"Draco I don't know what you want? I said what you wanted; I didn't get you into trouble, so aren't we even? You can't even tell me that this is all because of the twins stupid pranks, it's not like they wouldn't do the same thing if I had never come to school here!" She was begging him, pleading, but he was determined, his eyes narrowed on the same line he'd been reading since she sat down. "Please…I don't want to go to school here and have one of my best friends ignore my existence, I know you don't even want to do this, so why the self sacrifice? I don't understand all of this! What's the point?" She was stroking his ego, granted it wasn't exactly what he wanted her to say, but she was doing her best to manipulate his feelings without lying. She rose from her spot and lifted the book from his hands, his glare remained stoic but he didn't protest. She looked around the common room for any stragglers on couches before straddling his legs and resting her knees on either side of his thighs, looking directly into his eyes with her piercing black glare. The first few times her eyes had changed he hadn't noticed the connection, but it was passion, any time she was truly angry, or upset it was her bodies warning to the world, she was good at hiding her emotions, but her eyes gave her away.

"Draco Malfoy, answer me when I speak to you" Her tone was dark now, almost frightening, he tried to look away but she had locked his gaze, no point backing down.

"The point is, I'm your best friend and I did something to make you hate me." He was doing his best to remain unemotional as he spoke, but he could feel himself shaking ever so slightly under her. She leaned in closer to him, pushing hair from his eyes with her fingers, she almost giggled as she realized that it had grown an inch and a half since their fight, but she had to make him think that she was dead serious about the conversation she was having.

At first she wasn't sure what else she could do to change his mind, she was ready to get up from the chair's arm and leave, but she noticed the change in her eyes from across the room, most people thought that they changed with her mood, but they were far more useful…they predicted it. When she looked in the mirror on the far wall she knew right away the only thing that could bring Draco to his knees.

"I've forgiven you, you know that." She said, pleading to him in her voice and expression.

"But the same thing that I did to make you hate me… it made me love you." She hadn't been expecting anything quite that intense to come out of his mouth so quickly, her gaze relaxed some, but only for a moment.

"You know…I can't do that Draco, you know I can't. But I can't keep on killing my urges, every bit of good news, every time I'm upset, I'm spoiled, I'm too used to your company, there's too much alone time when I'm on the ground…" She had lost more control of the situation than she thought, if her eyes weren't screaming anger what had they been trying to tell her?

"Spoil me then…just once, we'll never talk about it again, I swear on my name. Killious it will all go back to normal, just give me one chance to see what I'm going to spend the next four years wishing would happen." His normally marble skin had become a more natural color, an averagely pale flesh tone, his eyes sparked with hope.

"One…that's all I can do." She made their pact with silent glances and sharply drawn breaths. Illy leaned closer to his face, and moved her knees to touch the back of the chair so that she could sit in his lap comfortably with her legs around the front of his waist.

(AN: I know, a horrible cliff hanger, but I was in a rush to get the chapter done, and I enjoy playing with minds, R&R, -Richard S.)


	13. 12 I Can Taste You in My Blood

AN: Last chapter I'm doing for a while, PLEASE R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 12

(AN: Once again I will put in a warning for some explicit content, but the latter parts of this chapter are vital to the plot, enjoy, R&R –Richard S.)

She lifted her arms from their limp position, gently pushing her fingers through his hair, she smiled at him softly. He eyes traveled over her body, as he frantically tried to store every bit of this in his memory, it was all he could ever put their as an example of being with her, entirely consensual and in good terms. Her V-neck shirt gave him glimpses of a dark green bra, complete with silvery lace around the edges, as she leaned forward to play with his hair. He was in heaven now, she was sitting right on top of him, hands in his hair, cleavage in plain view from his position, a perfect night by any other name. She suddenly yanked his head back by some of his hair, he was going to complain, even though the rough motion was just about enough to make him loose track of their agreement, but she hushed any qualms he had with her lips. He was expecting her to start out softer, slower, more affectionately, but she had rushed in, clearly needing this as bad as he did.

Killious pried open his mouth with little resistance, wanting to take in every bit of him she could under the pretenses they had allowed for. He tasted perfect, dominant and deliriously memorable, it wasn't right that tramps like Pansy Parkinson and Matty Melrose should get to taste this. Forget boys with candy mouths and salty tongues, this was an adrenaline rush just to drink it, she understood in a matter of seconds how he found himself to be so narcissistically alluring and powerful, it was in his DNA, his very blood, she had never noticed his taste before…or perhaps in all honesty it had tasted different, there was a whole new set of hormones that came with being in love, the very same ones that caused schizophrenia in fact, she was drinking in mad man like she'd been in the desert for months. She had to stop, she'd already been there for minutes, the two were breathing furiously through the momentary gaps that shifting heads created, Draco had pulled slightly closer to her, he was struggling within himself not to tear every bit of clothing that was hiding her from him off her body, but had managed to satisfy himself with twisting the two of them in every possible way, hoping that somehow he could find a new way for human bodies to be closer than any one had thought possible.

She tried to retreat and close the kiss, he wouldn't have it. As she started to pull away he used one hand to reach under her jaw and pull her face to his and the other to secure her waste where it was. She could feel his iron grip around her, she knew what was under his shirt, no matter how thick the black turtle-neck seemed to be, she was on a sports team with him, she knew how strong he was, she even knew that he could bench press her weight plus some. A normal reaction would be shy and timid, but the fact that The Draco Malfoy was lying beneath her, cleaving to her like his lifeblood was going to her head, she slipped a hand into the bottom of his shirt.

Draco was as close to nirvana as his life had ever let him be, she was the best thing he'd ever tasted, the best kiss he'd ever experience, he couldn't let it be over, not quite yet, he wasn't willing to let something that good slip through his fingers in a matter of seconds, but he could hardly focus, it had to be too much for his senses to handle, pictures of nothing were flashing through his mind, hallways and students, dark rooms and bright blue eyes, flashes of light and shelves full of glass, he was even seeing the dark mark on a tanned wrist and a chair that looked too familiar, it was getting to be too much, the scenes were getting longer, more complicated, the blue eyes were forming into mans face, he had seen those shelves before, the order of the paths was one he'd traveled before, he was close to having to pull away. He felt her warm hand under his shirt in the back of his mind, his hand left her face to help the other one pull her tighter, the dark room came again it was a stoned in prison, he could feel the zipper of her jeans pressing on his navel, it would leave an imprint, at the end of the halls was a door: the headmasters office, her thighs around his waste, the tan wrist had became an arm covered in bruises and cuts, then he felt her nails on his back, the visions were pushed away, he screamed into her mouth, she caught ever bit of it up and dug in deeper this time, catching an approving moan from his throat, he could feel the heat from two warm bodies all at once, as sweat ran into the cuts, the salt making him shiver as he reached for the button on her pants.

Her kiss became tenderer, soft, loosely distant, he didn't care, she was probably experiencing the same sensory overload he had just been pulled from, he reached a hand into her hair inhaling deeply as his fingers intertwined with the sheets of silk, before he pushed her back into their deep kiss. Her pants were undone; he reached for his own, using his legs to shake her back a little ways so that he could reach the button. She had suddenly become heavier, but he barely noticed, she had come back to their kiss, biting down onto his lower lip, drawing blood, just as he had done to her before, he moved as fast as he could without fumbling like an idiot to unzip his pants.

Killious felt delusional, she was aware of everything he was doing but she couldn't stop herself, the visions seemed to start the second she dug her nails into his back, she was on a ridiculous high, but the blurs of images were leaving her foggy, she could scarcely think about the fact that Draco was using both hands to pull at her jeans, let alone that she had shifted her weight to help him do so, the blue eyes were hauntingly familiar though shades different from Draco's, she watched the door to Dumbldoor's office open at the end of the twisting hallways she could tell that it was Draco's eyes she was seeing through one hand to pull the handle was the only thing she needed to know that it was him, the dark mark look just like the one the girl in Snape's picture had her clothing were different but it seemed inconsequential, the room full of glass and flashing lights was a fight wizards against each other but she had no idea where, Draco had moved their kiss from savage passion to delicate romance, his taste had changed, it was even more intoxicating, he wanted permission, the blue eyes were a full face now with long blond hair evil in every bit of it.

Draco released her mouth and looked into her eyes, they had changed again black had become startling, chaotic, changing swirls of deep greens, ambers, reds, blues, browns, grays, and piercing purple colors. He stared at her like a puppy, as she looked back into his own eyes, his thin smile, his lustful intention present hand in hand with the genuine willingness for "no" to be an answer. "Killious I love you, I need to know that you're okay with this-" He looked down, biting his lip as she took her time to make up her mind. "Illy, it's fine if you're not, I just need to know" he looked up at her again, his eyes locked on hers, as they widened with horror, they had rolled back into her head, as she stared down at him.

Illy knew those blue eyes, from a long time ago, the horror that flooded her made her sick, the visions all included him now though they were brief, fists and nails, cuts and bruises, hair pulling, broken limbs, soft young skin splitting open in crimson waves, she lulled back momentarily, as Draco spoke, "Killious I love you, I need to know that you're okay with this." Snape flashed to her mind, her eyes rolled back into her head, she had lost touch with Draco's distant touches.

_Illy was eleven again, thin, sickly, bruised and beaten, she hurt all over and her tears were overwhelming, she had lived this way for three years, why was this new an different, she hadn't cried since the first month, but the moment she saw him she was done, it didn't matter if Sir had her killed, she couldn't take this. Snape moved across the room to her naked form, horrified disgust on his face, she was smaller than any eleven year old should be, he reached out to her shoulder, she shuttered away from his touch, Sir was one thing, but knowing that more than one person would be coming in and out, she tried to scream but no sound would come. She watched the crystalline tears fall from his face, he shrugged off his cloak and wrapped her in it, holding her in his arms like a baby, he looked into her gray eyes, pulling her to his chest protectively, "I want to make you forget all this…I'll make it all go away" Between the statements were minutes of muted explanation, she watched his mouth move, watched his weeps and sobs, but she couldn't hear any of it, finally he kissed her on the forehead and hugged her close once more, "Killious I love you, I need to know that you're okay with this…" She nodded and the vision blacked out._

"Illy, it's fine if you're not, I just need to know" Draco's eyes were glowing, she could tell, but she couldn't see any of it, another vision was coming into play before her, more horrific than the last.

_Light broke open in the dark room as a tall man walked through the door, she pushed away any thoughts of fear, she just gripped the quill in her hand and waited, he stood near the door looking at her, the house elves had her in another constricting and ridiculous outfit, fluff and lace wrapped her fragile form, but wearing clothing for a few hours was better than huddling under a scrap of a blanket, naked, in a place this cold and wet. He smiled that familiar smile, she could see the filthy intentions in his eyes, she had to move quickly or not at all, she darted towards him, jamming the quill into his leg and slipping through the door past him, she wasted no time locating the steps to the main house, ignoring her still healing leg from the last attempt she made at escape, she sprinted up the stairs, the door was in sight, Sir was nipping at her heals, she pushed the door open, sunlight spilled onto the stairs behind her, the first bit of light she's seen in three years, she was no where near escape yet though. The expanse of the manor was huge, she would have to find someone willing to help, she listened for voices, struggling to hear what sounded like music, and a woman's voice not far away, her feet were pounding on the tiled floor, she burst into the hallway; there must have been ten doors on each side. She listened again for the voices, to her left, three doors down, her leg was failing, she almost tripped, as she opened the door. A blond woman and her son were sitting in uncomfortable looking chairs, sipping tea, they were horrified, she must have looked almost like an overdressed skeleton at this point, she could hear Sir in the hall behind her roaring in anger as he tried to find her, she started towards them, but her leg gave way, she could hear it snap as she slipped on her dress, blood pooled on the floor. The boy's face was beginning to tear, he was whimpering into his mothers cream colored gown. Sir stormed into the room, the door splintered as it swung into the wall freely. The loss of blood was making her delirious, she looked down at her leg, the bone was protruding in her shin, she had turned the fracture into a full split, the skin was punctured completely, the bones weren't the white she expected, instead they seemed wrongfully red. Her eyes drifted up from her leg, the piano music from before was still playing, tears had begun to mist her vision, the blond boy was mesmerized, she realized just what a sight she must have been, beautiful white lacy gown, hair in black curls, and a white felt choker, she could have been mistaken for an six or seven year old little girl, she was far underdeveloped and malnourished, her skin was deathly pale. Come to think of it, this was the first time she had seen the sun in three years, it danced on his golden hair and in his eyes, he looked like a gaping god, a horrified savior, just pacing himself before he rushed to her rescue, but he only looked to his mother, she was glaring at sir, Illy promised herself she would never forget that name so long as she lived, it was sealed with the blood that surrounded her, the woman screamed…_


	14. 13 LUCIOUS

AN: Last chapter I'm doing for a while, PLEASE R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 13

(AN: Another short chapter, but I should be able to put another one up in the next two days, R&R –Richard S.)

"LUCIOUS!" Illy's scream resonated through the room, reverberating off the walls, waking anyone who might have been napping, and calling Dolan from the spot where he was hiding in the corner. Draco was horrified, she had just called him by his fathers name, he was crushed, denied, destroyed, and toyed with, he felt filthy and uncomfortably pure all at once. His eyes began to water as he looked up at her like a wounded animal, but she lost consciousness in that moment, her head fell back, and her body began to fall, Draco caught her in his arms.

He didn't know what to do for several seconds, but his brain began to work again as he easily picked her up and laid her on a nearby couch. Dolan stepped forward, looking from Draco to Illy and back,

"I'll go get help, try to get her conscious, whatever just happened, it wasn't your fault." He said before rushing from the room, wand to his throat screaming for help. For someone in his situation Dolan was unnervingly calm, but it helped Draco think strait. He looked at her, tears now flowing freely,

"Illy, wake up, please wake up!" He shook her lightly. "Whatever my father did, I'm sorry! Please, just wake up for me, I'll do whatever you want." He pleaded as he smoothed over her hair and put both of their clothes back into place; the circumstances of the situation could only make it worse. As he moved to pull her shirt up some to cover her rather very team spirited underwear he noticed that her necklace was swirling the same way her eyes had, he reached down to it, within seconds of his brushing its surface Illy was awake again…and Draco had relived her visions in every vicious detail.

"Draco…Draco I-"

"I know Illy, it'll be okay, I promise I'll never ever let that bastard touch you again!" He moved to the couch, letting her rest her head on his lap as he stroked her hair, wide eyed.

"Draco, there's something I have to do…"

"Anything you want, I'll do whatever I need to."

"You need to forget that. I know how this sounds, but you're going home to your family in just a few months. We've only seen one bit of all this, you can't go back there and mention this, which would be impossible now." She seemed astoundingly level headed now.

"Fine then, I just won't ever go back. I don't need them anyway."

"No Draco, they're your family, they could be entirely innocent and we wouldn't even know it."

"An innocent face doesn't look the way his did, and an innocent man doesn't keep a child locked in his basement." Illy sat up to look Draco in the eye,

"Please, just forget all this, it will make it better."

"Because Snape's cure really worked for you didn't it." She looked away from him, he reached a hand out to her face, pulling her closer, gently, he places a soft, pointless kiss on her lips, just in time for Snape to burst through the door.

"Get away from her." He instructed but Draco didn't budge. "I suggest that unless you want to relieve what just happened to her you back away." With a quick hug and a silent 'I love you' he was off the couch and by Snape's side. "Ike, I'm going to fix it again, make it go away, just close your eyes and don't think too hard." She nodded at first, closing her eyes, but then she remembered Draco.

"No! No, wait-" the flash in her face blinded her in white light. Draco stood completely still, Dolan at his side, the man who might as well of been his step father just erased some of the most painful and important things in his best friends life from her mind. Thoughts reeled through his mind for what seemed like minutes before he decided on a course of action,

"You'll have to tell her one day, you know you will. My father fucking raped that girl! You think I'm a horrible person for what I did? You let him get away with it," Draco was now in hysterics, taking exaggerated strides toward Snape with his want out and pointed, "You're as bad as he is! He beat her, he cut her, he broke her bones, and you! What do you do? You just make her forget all of it! She'll find out! She sealed it in blood to never forget his name, it's a wonder she hasn't noticed before, but three years and it's all going to come out!"

"Calm yourself, I did what was best for my daughter at the moment, now be still!" Snape commanded, drawing his own wand on Draco, but there was no need, the boy was in shock, his wand fell to the floor with a light spark shooting from it.

"Her father?...you let my father do this to…your daughter…"

"I didn't even know she was alive until you told me about that day in the drawing room with your mother!"

"You erased my memory too didn't you!...you don't care about her at all do you!" Draco had lost all control, he was sobbing like a child as he collapsed into the chair he had originally been in.

"Draco stop, this is hard enough for Professor Snape as is, don't make it worse by pointing fingers, you're no angel yourself." Dolan tried to make as much peace as he could.

"Shut the fuck up Dolan! He doesn't care, not about me, not about her, not about sending my father to jail! He probably doesn't give a shit about any of this, well since all the secrets are coming out, and since he clearly doesn't give a fuck, how about this Servius!" Dolan was desperate to stop Draco from doing things he would regret, but when he moved to sit Draco back down Snape stopped him, holding him in place with one hand on his shoulder. "How about this DAD! I fucked your daughter! Right there in that chair! But don't seem too surprised, it's the second Malfoy you've let take advantage of her! At least with me it was a choice, but now the truth is out, I fucked your blood daughter, then she had an epileptic seizure in combo with a flash back to her past and what could quite possibly be sever precognitive visions! Why don't you have a seat to let that all sink in," Draco motioned to the chair he had been sitting in. Snape remained cold, glancing at Dolan,

"He didn't even… He loves her too much to fuck up that badly." Snape nodded,

"Gentlemen, this ends here, I'll see you for chess." The room was filled with a white light in a matter of seconds.


	15. 14 It keeps my feet warm

AN: Ok, finally got some updates up, there's a lot here though so I'm sure you'll enjoy it

AN: Ok, finally got some updates up, there's a lot here though so I'm sure you'll enjoy it! I'm very sorry for the sporadic updates and all but it's the way I operate. I'm still looking for a beta (and some reviews for that matter) so it you have either go ahead and tell me. Enjoy everyone… -Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 14

"Illy what bloody took you so long? We've already lost two games!" Harry ran to meet Killious as she and Dolan walked into the room.

"Actually, the three of us all fell asleep while we were getting ready!" She explained, hugging Harry briskly.

"The three of you?" Harry looked puzzled before Draco walked into the room, moving to stand to the right of Illy. "Oh…you two are talking again…" Harry seemed disappointed but he behaved himself, deciding that if her relationship with Draco was to persist it might be best to let everyone know he could be civil…hopefully Draco couldn't.

"Yes, well actually we had a rather lengthy discussion in the common room while Dolan was getting ready and we ended up falling asleep." She giggled, trying to hide the fact that both she and Draco were flushed, thinking about just how lengthy their 'conversation' had been. Dolan put an arm on Draco's shoulder, gripping tighter than was really necessary to remind him not to gloat,

"And while they were waiting I ended up falling asleep in the tub…now that I think about it, it's a good thing I didn't drown."

"I see. well next game starts in five so make sure you're ready." Harry smiled and walked awkwardly away from the group, who went to find a place to set up Illy's kotatsu. In honesty they should have come up with something better than each of them mysteriously falling asleep at the same time, but it was the truth, when Dolan woke up he was in the tub, oddly still in his boxers, after he quickly toweled off and got dressed he came down stairs to find Illy asleep on Draco's shoulder, both of them soundly asleep in a rather odd position in one arm chair. They each recalled the entire near-sex encounter, down to Draco's asking permission, but then, out of no where they fell asleep, no one was around and they had no memory of anyone cursing them, so there was no explanation other than that they had simply collapsed from sudden exhaustion, a prospect that disappointed Draco as much as it fed his ego. Draco smiled in Harry's direction, he could feel the deep scratches in his back underneath his shirt, he couldn't help but boast to himself, privately concealing his personal triumph, if only to delay the grief that would follow when he came to terms with the fact that, for at least the next year, he wouldn't be able to even suggest such a thing.

"Where the fuck did you get such a pointless, most likely expensive, thing?" Dolan asked with repulse, as Illy snuggled her legs under the kotatsu, the table was two and a half feet by two feet, making it plenty large to do homework on or play chess. As she settled in Draco pulled himself away from his thoughts to look down at Illy, who had stuffed her legs under the white comforter portion of the table.

"Don't worry dear, some people just don't understand luxury, you know poor folk." Draco sneered at Dolan,

"Oh blow me pretty boy!" He made a vulgar motion involving his tongue and his hand at Draco.

"So….what in the hell is that?" Draco asked, turning from Dolan. Illy smiled at him,

"It's called a kotatsu, it's a piece of Japanese furniture, it has a table top that is affixed to a heated bottom, usually you put something around it, like a comforter, and it keeps your legs warm while you sit on your cushion." She motioned to the other three cushions she had shrunk and brought with her. Draco took the invitation and had a seat.

"My mum has pottery from Japan…and some glassware from China, I think my dad might have some swords too, but I've never actually been." Small talk was practically torture for him at the moment, as his eyes kept becoming affixed to her lips, and her cool mannerisms were depressing him more than he thought they would, a one sided war could be worse than both of them struggling.

"I went to pick things up a few times, Dragon eggs, two Katana's, a full suit of armor that was too fragile to shrink…stuff like that." She couldn't help but feel like this was easier for him that it was for her, he was playing things off, making small talk, she just wanted to run her fingers over the scratches she had put in his back, as she played through scenarios involving the things that Pansy or Matty would say to him when they found the marks from another woman's nails brutally carved into his milky skin. She smiled softly at him as he inquired further,

"Why use a broom, why not floo powder, or a port key?"

"Broom's are in the air, they're more personal, and if an item is being sought by non-owners than it's harder to track. Of course you would rush to the nearest port key if you lost track of an artifact, but who would guess to look for some teenage girl who was three hundred feet in the air?"

"So no one really cares if you fall and die, because this approach is more sentimental, it builds a good customer base, and most of all there's plenty of time for anyone looking to take something from you to get good and angry before they brutally murder you." Draco was clearly not happy with her career of choice,

"I wanted the job, I wanted to travel and my parents had been having a hard time being around me after the accident, so they talked to Gringott's. I was an on-sight delivery girl between villages and dig sites already, so it worked out. I usually end up with things that people aren't in a rush to get, or fragile items, but I do use floo powder and port keys if people just don't have time to get things."

"So why not be safe and just take all non-flight jobs?" Harry inquired. Illy and Draco hadn't even noticed his presence, but he must have been eaves dropping from a few feet away for a minute or so, Illy smiled, Draco sneered.

"Flights pay more, and they're more dangerous, I enjoy them more."

"Attention, the next round is beginning now, please take your seats and begin your match as soon as I come by your table." Professor Binn's announced.

The night was light hearted and had minimal Draco and Harry or Ron conflicts, in all honesty Ron didn't hate Draco all that much, they both had an animal cruelty towards anyone other than themselves; Hermione and Illy shook their heads as the boys jeered at other students.

"Are you two secretly girls? Because you gossip worse than we do!" Hermione exclaimed as they began to make fun of Neville, who was winning his current match but wincing at every crushing move. "Everyone gossips more than you two!" Ron snapped back, "You've never had your face out of a book and Illy just tells everyone whatever she's thinking about them!" Draco joined in. The two continued the night, attached at the hip, much like Dolan and Christian and the twins, who had all begun saying things in unison, which became eerie when four people chorused, "Off with their head!" or "Check mate!" The boys, of course, were overly competitive, but in the end Jackquinn and Clause won, upon which Illy, Draco, Harry, Ron, Dolan, Christian, and the twins all decided that it would make more sense to just have a quiditch match over who the real winner was, but the couple declined and laughed as Illy and Harry began a fight with Draco and Ron over which team was better, with Ron and Draco both claiming that Hermione could have won by a land slide if she had a better partner, seeing as Draco knew that while he may have been a half decent player, Matty was a disaster, who was told so more than once during the game by Ron and Draco, leading to her eventual tearful retreat to the dorm. Once the tournament was over Draco decided he should go find Matty and make sure she wasn't going to kill herself, and everyone one but Harry dispersed toward their dorm, exhausted and laughing uncontrollably at one another's sleep deprived and semi-delirious state.

Harry had promised to walk Illy back to the dorm and was more than excited to do so, as he did his best to persuade everyone to leave them to their own devices. His hands were sweaty, and his breathing irregular, as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"So…you and Draco talked, that's good." He finally came up with something to talk about, even if it was one of his least favorite subjects.

"Yeah, it went well, we decided that best friends shouldn't hate each other, it's not worth it." She tried to be vague and avoid the subject to the best of her ability.

"That's good…" was all he could come up with.

"You already said that Harry." She giggled, causing his heart to race as he smiled at her.

"I guess I did, well, I don't really know why you were fighting to begin with, the twins have their lips sealed, we just know what they did to get back at him!"

"I'm not really comf-"

"Don't worry about it, not everyone has to be as open about their problems as the famous Harry Potter, everyone knows my business, I understand wanting to keep some things to yourself."

"Speaking of someone famous, what do you think about all of this Sirius Black bullocks?"

"What do you mean bullocks, the man was sent to Azkaban for a horrible crime." Harry's blood was starting to heat, but he had to control himself, this was Killious, she wasn't on Black's side she was just a stupid uninformed girl.

"You can't really think that your parents' best friend would betray them?" She was shocked.

"Of course he did, I mean who else could have known where they were hiding?"

"It just doesn't make sense, think about it Harry, he was their friend for years, friendships die hard, even when someone like the dark lord is involved, for him to do something that horrible he would have had to be a death eater for years, since he started attending Hogwarts practically! That or he was under the control of a _very_ powerful spell, one stronger than the bond two best friends have, even for Voldemort, that seems excessive, I just don't see the plausibility." Harry had become suddenly dark, Illy could feel his mood hit her, chills ran up and down her body, she had to do something, she reached out a hand to his, meshing his fingers between his own, "that'd be like you betraying Ron or Herm, on a whim, just because, you would kill yourself trying to resist a spell before you hurt either one of them, or any of their children." Harry nodded, gripping her hand uncomfortably tight, she ignored it, trying to pull him back from his thoughts.

"So, how have other things been?"

"Not so great, Hagrid has some pretty rough charges against him, I'm not sure what we can do to help him…" Harry stopped outside the door to the common room, but the two continued their conversation, rather than delay it, he told her about Draco, Buckbeak, and Hagrid. She remembered the day, she was there with him, in fact she almost felt bad for him, or she would have if she hadn't known that they had argued about her flirting too much just hours before class, it wasn't a new topic for the two, he always had something to say about how she was dressed, or her unorthodox displays of affection towards others, or, in this case, how much she seemed to gush over other male students, he was bad at hiding his true intentions, but they usually tried to pretend that he cared in a brotherly sense. That morning they had fought more than usual and she had spent the class with Ron and Harry, being extra careful to make excuses for contact, when Harry returned from his ride she had given him a hug and a small kiss on the cheek in plane view of the already agitated Draco.

"I think I probably contributed to his fowl mood that morning, we had fought, and I was being extra touchy with you and Ron just to make him angry…I don't think he meant to cause so much trouble in reality, he just wanted to make me feel bad. We hurt the people we care about most right?" She tried to smile and shrug things off but she felt bad. "I think I'm going to head to bed, now that I feel like I've clubbed a baby seal inadvertently." Harry laughed,

"It's not your fault he's a bloody son a bitch." His ability to have so much concentrated hatred for people no matter what mood he was in astounded her. She couldn't conceive how someone could laugh and then call someone a bastard, it made no sense to her.

"Forgive him Harry, he's nicer than you think." She gave him a hug and turned to go, he grabbed her wrist forcefully and pulled her back,

"I didn't get to say goodnight." He said, his green eyes sparking and turning darker,

"Oh" she let out a nervous laugh, "Well then, goodnight." She smiled, but he didn't release her wrist, instead he pulled her close, eyes on her mouth, his face came closer to hers, he closed his eyes, she turned her cheek to the side, letting him give her a small kiss on the cheek before trying to leave again,

"Why are you in such a hurry, its Friday, we have nothing to wake up early for." He was calm and demanding, she had to think of a good excuse, fast.

"Draco said he would be waiting for me when I got back, if I'm too late he said he'd come to find me, just one of those protective things, I'd hate to end such a great night with him accusing you of something." He nodded and released her, as she scampered through the door of the common room, holding her now bruised wrist.


	16. 15 Bad dreams and rough mornings

AN: Ok here's a long one, we get into a lot of rivalry and dramatic stuff in here so have fun…-Richard S

AN: Ok here's a long one, we get into a lot of rivalry and dramatic stuff in here so have fun…-Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 15

"_You're filth, you deserve all of this" A voice was hissing at the eight year old girl, hot tears stung her cheek as she sat on the floor, looking up at the tall man, Sir, he had demanded that she call him. She whimpered in response to his insults, "We've been over this, when I tell you that you are worthless you agree" He snatched her off the ground by her hair, "Now, you are filth and you deserve every bad thing that has happened to you!" He shouted at her, her voice was hoarse from crying but she stuttered out the words, _

"_Yes Sir, I am worthless." He smiled, a crooked evil smile. _

"_Good, now you know what to do." He dropped her harshly to the ground and watched as she began to slip the strap of her dress off her shoulder, wincing as her cuts were re-opened by the dress' peeling off their upper layers. "You're too slow!" He shouted, hitting her face as hard as he could with the back of his hand, if she had been sitting she would have just fallen over, but seeing as she was standing the blow threw her several feet. She let out a yelp of pain, which only enraged the man further, "Shut up, you dirty squib!" he yelled as he drug her back to her original spot on the floor by her foot, before ripping the dress from her body. Tears clouded her eyes as he began to unbutton his pants, _

Killious woke up late; only actually bothering to wake when Jackquinn shoved her out of his bed and onto the floor. The dreams seemed to real that it was hard to wake from them, she couldn't figure out why she was having them, never the same, except for the little girl and the man, his face was dark and she didn't recognize the girl at all, but they had started the night of the chess tournament and she had, had them every night since then.

"Killious, get the fuck up!" He prompted, as she roused. She looked up at him from the floor, confused at first, but then a wide grin spread across her face as she blinked sleep away. "I'm not kidding; this is no joke, up, up, up!" He tried to pull her from her spot, but gave up and threw clean clothing at her. She laughed and stood up, stripping off her pajama shorts and tank top, to exchange it for a short skirt, a tight shirt school shirt, tank top, standard tie, and a hot pink bra.

"Explain something to me, how in the hell does a black kid raised in inner city London end up with a French accent?" She asked, giggling as she buttoned up her shirt and started to pull her skirt on.

"Both parents are French, it was the household language, we took a lot of trips to France in the summers, and so I just picked it up, I mean how many summers can you spend hitch hiking before you learn the lingo right?" He said smiling; she now had on her skirt but stopped before she put on her shoes,

"Panties dear, those are vital." He sighed and started digging thought her bag, before throwing a pair of pink boy shorts with two faux lace-ups in the front, clashing delightfully with their green silk ribbon.

"How come girls get good underwear?" He asked absentmindedly as he stared at the wall opposite Illy, with his eyes closed, just to make her feel better.

"This is why you should leave when I change in your room, you always ask weird questions." She giggled, pulling on socks, and slipping on her shoes.

"You could always use the bathroom sweetie! But really, we get standard boxers, briefs, or fucking whiteys." He complained as she walked to the bathroom,

"You use a muggle straighter too?" She asked looking down at the item, which was enchanted to be used cordless and without electricity, but non-the-less a muggle item.

"Illy, look at me. I'm practically fucking bald! AND I'm black, of course it's not mine, it's yours you moron!"

"Shut up, it's too early in the morning okay!" He laughed at her, while she ran the straighter through her hair; she was done in a matter of minutes.

"Did you know that would take me close to an hour if this thing weren't enchanted?" She said as she reached for her makeup bag, one application that took the same amount of time no matter who you were, she stepped back and smiled at herself.

"Gorgious, now can we get the hell out of here before Snape kills me! This room will get taken away if he finds out about this you know?" Illy just packed her things up into her bag and headed for the door giggling.

"You never did tell me why you got this room."

"It's not important, what is, however, is the conditions of my keeping this room, the first of which being, no guests!" He lectured as she took a seat on a couch in the common room.

"Relax, we were just studying, even McGonagall can't deny that the two of us actually would study." Jackquinn's face became suddenly serious as he looked her in the eye,

"…It's because I'm black isn't it?" The two burst into laughter. Dolan and Christian came into the room with a loud crash, as Draco screamed at them from behind, none of the boys had on more that boxers, but they seemed otherwise distracted from their scantily clad state.

"That shampoo is expensive you filthy bastards!" Draco yelled as he began chasing them around the room, smiling, like he only would with real friends.

"But look, my hair feels so soft and delicate now!" Dolan jeered as Christian stroked his hair and agreed. The two were behind the couch on which Illy sat and Draco was standing directly in front of Jackquinn and her, debating whether he should continue on the pointless chase in circles around the couch or just jump directly over it. A sudden heat wave had struck the school on Monday, rendering nearly everyone unable to sleep in more than underwear, let alone wear blankets, if it hadn't been for their precarious sleeping arrangement the night before Illy and Jackquinn most likely would have skipped any clothing and blankets just to try and cool off. Magic may have been able to solve any problem, but dropping the temperature down to 70 Fahrenheit from somewhere near 110 was a task that could drain someone to exhaustion, the faculty had managed to keep classrooms at a mere 76, and the common room at 75, but the dorms and hallways stayed at a nauseating 93 degrees, which was just enough to make shampoo stealing a crime punishable by death, not to mention suddenly hysterical.

Draco looked down to Illy, and made a subtle motion for her to move over some, she scooted away from Jackquinn, leaving ample space for a foot, Draco sighed and began to walk away with a defeated look on his face, giving Dolan and Christian just enough time to relax before running back towards the couch and leaping over it, taking Christian down with him as he fell to the floor.

"Well Draco, your urges are just as insatiable as ever aren't they?" Dolan jeered, placing his hand on his hip. Christian laughed as he shoved Draco off of him,

"You know how the heat works on him, its like dogs!" Illy mocked from her spot on the couch, where she had turned around and was now sitting upright on her knees to see over the back of the sofa.

"You're all evil" Was all he would say through gritted teeth as he held a hand to his head. Christian helped him up, laughing as Dolan stroked his hair lovingly. Illy chuckled lightly before she noticed Draco's hand,

"Are you ok?" She asked, getting up and walking to where he was.

"Yeah, fine, I just hit my head a little bit hard on the hearth." He pointed to the base of the stone fire place that was just behind the couch. Illy did a double take when she saw the blood that was dripping to the floor from the stone corner.

"Draco we need to get you to the infirmary, I'll walk you." She said, slipping off her shirt and trying to pry his hand from the wound, which he was stubbornly trying to conceal.

"Do your panties match that?" Christian asked, lights tugging on the pink bra strap that protruded from her shirt. She ignored him and Draco shot him a glare, leaving him distracted long enough for Illy to pull his hand away and put her shirt to the right side of his forehead.

"Actually yes, with accents of green." Jackquinn replied absentmindedly as he flipped through a magazine. Draco's glare moved from one male to the next as he affixed his gaze to Jacky.

"Oh really, and how would you know that?" Christian inquired.

"A more important question would be, why are you reading teen witch?" Illy shot to Jackquinn before he had a chance to incriminate the both of them.

"Yeah, why the fuck are you reading that?" Christian moved towards Jackquinn, like an animal about to pounce on prey. Illy started moving Draco to the door, eager to escape the situation in a subtle manner.

"umm…" Jackquinn was drawing blanks as he stared at Christian blankly.

"Where else can you find that many adds for women's underwear without seeming like a pervert?" Dolan slipped in, taking the magazine from Jackquinn and holding up a photo of a girl in nothing but panties, with her arms across her naked breast's, a French underwear label was printed in loopy lettering across the bottom of the page.

"Wow…I never knew that." Christian reached out to take the magazine from Dolan's hand, and walked away, satisfied enough with the explanation. Dolan took a seat next to Jacky and waited,

"Oh, thanks, thanks very much, I was really worried for a minute there." He smiled as Dolan.

"No problem…it's too bad you were reading an article about, 'what to do if you think your boyfriend is cheating'" Jackquinn swallowed hard and looked down at the ground.

"One of my friend's boyfriend…I just don't know what to tell her, I thought it would help…"

"Nice try."

Killious walked briskly down towards the hospital wing, holding her now mostly crimson shirt to his head. The make shift rag was beginning to drip down her arm and dot her white tank top, with sparkling ruby polka dots.

"My shirt isn't doing much good, I'm sorry." She apologized as she wrung it out into an abandoned mop water bucket, unwilling to take a full detour to the bathroom.

"I could always just use my boxers." He suggested, smiling at her.

"I don't think that silk is all that absorbent." She retorted as she let her eyes wander down to his dark blue underwear, she could see the outlines of his figure as they walked down the empty hallway.

"Stop looking, you never know when Harry is going to show up." He stared straight forward, doing his best to respect the impossible contract he had agreed upon.

"Speaking of Harry…do you know what you did to Buckbeak and Hagrid?"

"What do you mean? Hagrid got a slap on the hand, like usual, and that stupid hippogriff is just going to have to stay in the forest, I didn't do anything."

"Actually Draco…well, I guess your dad didn't tell you yet, Hagrid could loose his job, but more importantly, they're planning on executing Buckbeak." Draco stopped moving and looked into her gray eyes,

"What do you mean? Why would they kill it?"

"You put on quite a show! You're a little drama queen, he's on trial, and things don't look good, not even Hermione has been able to find a way out of all this."

"You mean….it's going to get killed…because of one whiny kid's complaint?"

"You're 'The Draco Malfoy' Mr., that's not just any kid. You're father hates Hagrid, you know that, he'd do anything to hurt him, he sent him to Azkaban last year as you may recall."

"Those charges made sense, even Harry and Ron thought Hagrid might have been a part of what was going on…wait how did you know that?"

"I was sent to help escort him…actually, I ended up taking him myself."

"They let a thirteen year old little girl take someone to Azkaban unsupervised?"

"Not exactly, there was a dementor present, but Dumbledore had Hagrid promise to be good."

"You could fly with a dementor around? Fuck, you could fly to Azkaban, where there's hundreds of them?"

"Sure, I mean I felt a little sick, but I didn't actually go to the prison, I left him at a rendezvous point, and the dementor wasn't that close to me or anything."

"Oh…but still the point is the-"

"The point is you've condemned an animal to death, or at least your father has, and Harry thinks that it was on purpose!"

"Well it wasn't, so he can bugger off, I didn't mean to get anything killed or anyone fired."

"But you did, Draco, you've got to talk to your father, tell him to drop the charges." They were now almost to Madam Pomfry's

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean for any of this to happen. But I can't tell my dad to change his mind, he doesn't care what I think, let alone listen to me."

"Well then it's not even a fucking apology now is it?" Harry shouted at Draco from just a ways down the hall.

"Bloody hell, Potter keep your fucking nose out of my business, and for that matter, keep your scar and the rest of your filthy face away from me as well" Illy did her best to ignore the two and just hold onto Draco's head with the shirt.

"No one is as filthy as you! You don't even care that you're going to kill an innocent creature!"

"I just said that I was sorry didn't I? Damn your dumb!" Illy was now dragging Draco down the hall to keep him from starting a fist fight.

"It doesn't matter what you say, you won't even talk to your father! But you're probably right, I wouldn't listen to my son if he was as much of an arse as you are!" Harry was clearly irritated with something else besides just Draco, the dark circles under his eyes were evidence of a sleepless night.

"I'm bleeding from my head and all you can do is pick a fight?" Draco motioned towards the bloody shirt Illy was holding.

"Oh, let me guess Killious, his ego got so big it had to make some extra space in that head of his eh?" She was silent, she just pushed open the door to the infirmary.

"You're such a self centered twat! I didn't say a thing to you, in fact I was in the middle of apologizing for screwing your friend and his pet over, and you just have to start something, for Merlin's sake the sun's not even all the way up, but Harry Potter had a bad night, so he needs to make sure everyone else is miserable, because none of their lives matter! You're more of a narcissist that I am! So fine, I'm not sorry, I don't even give a shit! Your fucking giant friend can get fired and your bloody freak creature can get killed, I won't shed a tear!" Draco was shouting now, with nothing but Illy blocking him from ripping Harry to shreds.

"I'm a narcissist? I'm not the one who decided that Killious would be lucky to have me practically rape her!"

"ENOUGH! Draco, you are still sorry! Harry, I'm sorry you didn't get any sleep but bringing that up won't help at all!" The boys were silenced, both now blushing at the rebuke they had endured.

"This young lady is quite a fire cracker." Madam Pomfry came around the corner of the infirmary, smiling and drying her hands.

"The three of you woke me up, I was going to wring your necks until she got you to shut up, now who am I looking at?" She put on her glasses, smiling broadly in Illy's direction,

"Oh, Miss Enquirous, how are you this morning? Are these two yours?" She asked, stepping towards them.

"Sadly…yes they are, this one right here has injured his head pretty badly, hit the corner of a stone fire place with full force. And the other," She said pointing to Harry, "is suffering from insomnia and could use some sleeping draught, or something like it."

Pomfry shuffled around them, asking Harry questions about his sleep symptoms as she inspected Draco's wounds.

"Not good at all Draco, Illy will clean you up, let me go get Harry something, and find him a cot to get some rest on."

"Why do you get Illy?" Harry snapped, irritable beyond comprehension.

"I didn't claim her or anything. Blood hell Potter, talk to Pomfry if you have such a problem with it!" Illy sighed, she was running on two hours of sleep, and now extensive knowledge of dream interpretation, but she had been expecting a bland Wednesday of classes when she and Jackquinn decided to begin their research, if her days continued like this, there was no way she would be able to hold off sleep until Saturday.

"I'm just saying its not fair that people immediately assume she's with you."

"She was the one who drug me up here, she's got my blood all over her shirt! That might just hint she came with me!"

"Draco, please don't make it worse…I've ruined two shirts today, I don't want to have to throw away the skirt because you two decide to make a mess of killing on another." Draco nodded,

"They're not a total, loss, you can always sell them to Parkinson or Melrose." He whispered to her, making her smile before he spoke up. "Fine Potter, you can have her. She knows where the sleeping potions are right Madam?" Draco asked Pomfry who was frozen in place, confused and distraught by the on going arguments.

She awoke from her daze after Draco's question,

"Of course, she organized half of the potions closet, just make sure you give him something with less for a sleepless mind and more for drifting thoughts." She instructed Illy as she went to help Draco.

After administering Harry a potion and finding him a bed Illy started off towards Draco's bed, she was twenty minutes late for Lupin's class and she hadn't even eaten anything, meaning she was close to fainting.

"When's the last time you ate?" Draco asked, lightly stroking her face.

"I had dinner last night." She said, trying to play the situation off.

"Killious you had some green beans and a glass of tea, didn't you and Jackquinn get any food?"

"No, we got caught up in what we were doing…wait how did you know I stayed with him?"

"I found a note for you last night, I went to your dorm to give it to you but you weren't there, and you're always loud when you leave to go with Harry and Ron so I knew that wasn't it, I just guessed." He explained, handing her the note that he had pulled from the waistband of his boxers.

"That's fowl, I don't think I even want to touch it."

"It was in the condom pocket you prat, but I'll read it for you if it makes you feel any better."

"What's a condom?"

"It's a protective contraceptive that muggles use, they can't just use magic like us, now if you're done with stupid questions," He waited for a moment for her to ask something else before continuing, "seems that your friend from Gryffindor doesn't know how old you are, or what gender you are, this was stuck to the door of the boys bathroom: 'midnight, astronomy tower, Sunday, it was a MacDonald's in case you wanted to know.' I assumed that last part was in reference to the fast food fun fact from the last time you were together…Otherwise I probably fucked up some gay rendezvous in the boys' dorm." Illy laughed and gave him a hug, after checking to make sure Harry wasn't anywhere around, she couldn't take another fight.

"I have to get to class, take care of your head okay?" She asked, giving him a shy kiss on the cheek before turning to leave, he reached out for her hand,

"Killious, you'll starve…I can't figure out why you do it to yourself, but please, you have to eat something." She nodded and slipped out of the room quietly, making sure she didn't wake Harry.


	17. 16 Family Moments

AN: I hate to beat the brains out of Draco but it must be done

AN: I hate to beat the brains out of Draco but it must be done. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 16

Illy sat down for lunch, exhausted and nauseated. She had just gotten a note from Draco, who was still in the infirmary at noon, she was beginning to wish she had dressed his wounds, rather than cater to Harry's jealousy, but she was hoping for good news as she unfolded the pink slip of paper, a sign that in any muggle school usually didn't nurture a good feeling.

"C'mon, open the bloody thing already, maybe he said something about Harry." Ron urged Illy from across the table. She hadn't even remembered that Harry was still sick until just now, she cleared her throat to read aloud: "Illy, Pomfry says that things are worse than they looked, but I'm not convinced. I don't feel bad at all, but that might be due to the potions she is continuously administering. She says that I've damaged…." She trailed off mid-sentence, small tears forming in her eyes.

"Illy, it's okay, he'll be fine." Hermione tried to reassure him. Illy sniffed and nodded, continuing to read, "She says that I've damaged part of my frontal lobe, and that she'll be sending me to a muggle hospital for some kind of scan, it's all a bunch of crap, I don't need any filthy muggles to take care of me, but just so you know, I might be gone for a few days. P.S. I'm having this sent one hour after I leave, so don't worry about coming to say 'hullo' or 'goodbye' or whatever, just get some rest and eat plenty."

"Wow…well at least theirs no doubt that Draco sent it." Ron shrugged and reached for one of cubes of sweet potato on Illy's plate, but before it made it to his mouth Illy's was exciting the hall and Hermione was hitting him on the head with a book.

"RONALD! That is her best friend! Do you know what damage to the frontal lobe means?" Ron gave her a blank stare, "It means he could loose memory, pieces of his personality, even basic functions if the injury is bad enough!"

"Since when where you a brainologist?" Ron asked, resuming consumption of Illy sweet potatoes.

"Ron, that's not even a world. And I was planning on being a neurologist before I found out that I was a witch, studying the brain is more than just a little important to neurology. That's doesn't even have to do with anything though! The point is, she could watch Draco regress to the point that he can's speak if this is bad enough and all you can do is make fun of his note. You're so ignorant to other people, you…." Hermione was fuming, as her cheeks flushed red, "you, you egocentric prat!" She stormed out of the hall after Illy.

"Killious!" Called Hermione, as she ran after Illy, who was moseying down the hall towards the greenhouse for her next class. "Illy, shouldn't you get something to eat?" Hermione asked, flushed, and out of breath.

"I'm not hungry. Just nauseated and irritated."

"But Draco even said you should eat something, when's the last time you ate? I know you didn't make breakfast."

"I had a pastry this morning, Jackquinn's mom had sent him some. I'm really not in the mood to eat."

"Alright then…but make sure you get a big dinner." Illy just nodded, looking like she was in another world. Hermione gave her a hug, but her only response was to lightly raise her arms to Hermione's back, and then let them fall to their original listless position.

Illy cut her herbology class to go see Snape for his free period. The room was deserted and the door had a large "Do not knock!" Sign on it, Illy just used her skeleton key from work to open the door, rather than waste time.

"Did you not see the sign?" Snape asked without looking up, paying extra attention to the over accentuation of consonants.

"Draco was sent to London today…to a muggle hospital, he might have frontal lobe damage." She sunk into one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of his desk. They seemed to be formed for the soul purpose of encouraging someone to get out of them, and the room for that matter.

"What happened to him?" Snape asked, still distracted by whatever he was reading, Illy didn't even bother looking.

"He was messing around with Dolan and Christian, dove over the couch, tackled Christian, and in the process fell full force onto the corner of the fireplace in the common room…do you think he'll be ok?"

"The worst that can happen is memory loss, or maybe a short temper for a while, it doesn't sound too bad."

"What if he forgets…me?" She fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

"Don't be ridiculous Ike, you don't forget the girl your in love with!...not ever." He glanced up from his book and to the pictured of Illy on his desk, before making eye contact.

"He does not."

"Don't act like a child, it's not becoming of a young lady."

"Well he doesn't."

"Oh doesn't he? Have you ever asked?"

"No! Why would I ask that?"

Illy moved to her usual seat on the edge of his desk, being careful to pull her skirt down lower before taking a seat.

"We had a talk about how you've been dressing haven't we?" He asked glancing at her exposed leg.

"Yes, you lost the argument."

"Right…How long have you known the Malfoy family?"

"I don't know three years, probably more, but you know, with the accident and all I'm not sure." Snape shuddered at the mention of her accident.

"When have you known them to keep someone around just because they enjoy their company?"

"Well I guess…never?"

"Exactly, and what could Draco possibly get from your friendship? Homework, affiliations? Do you think he enjoys barely being able to keep his balance when you come in the room? How comfortable can it be to get chills every time someone says your name? Better yet is the nauseous feeling when you see that person with another man, as if their being near each other is a direct act of hatred. What did he say when you asked him why he wouldn't talk to you?"

"He said that he had made me hate him, and that at the same time I had made him love me…"

"So there, he said it, what else do you need?"

"You've been talking to him haven't you? What happened to making sure he never came near me again!" Snape was silent, his glance shot back to his book. "He let you see the rest of that morning didn't he? That's what it was, so now you're on his side, ready to give him a boost whenever he needs it."

"You know you can't hold that against me. You're just looking for someone to blame, he's your best friend and he got hurt, I can't blame you for being upset." She looked at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

"I'm so worried I could die! I can't even eat, he's getting shipped off for MRI's and EEG's and he sends me notes telling me not to worry, to get sleep and something to eat! What am I going to do?" Snape smiled, paternally as the tears began to fall down her face which she buried in his shoulder.

"Do just what he said, you can't make him better by worrying, and he'll only be upset if he comes back and you're skin and bones, you already are! Look at yourself Ike, you haven't been average weight in years, and don't give me that 'I'm just skinny' routine, skinny is one thing but, how much do you way?"

"Can you even ask that?"

"Fine, what size uniform shirt is that?" She was silent, no one had brought up her weight directly before, they talked about how little she ate, but no one had directly spoken about her body in a negative way. "Well, I'm waiting…." She mumbled an incomprehensible answer. "Killious, answer me when I talk to you!" He demanded, sounding like her parents.

"It's a children's medium."

"Illy, my first years wear a children's medium, granted that shirt is tight on you, but still, you're thirteen and you wear a nine year old girl's shirt."

"Well…I mean I make them longer, it's just the waist, I'm not that short, so you can't pull the malnutrition card."

"You're mother was five foot eleven, and your father was six foot two, you're only five three."

"And I'm thirteen, that's not all that short! I can't believe that I'm once again defending myself to you! You're suppose to make be feel better, not worse, how about instead of telling me about my parents genetics you tell me about their lives! You could even go so far as telling me their names!" Snape was silent for a few minutes before he answered,

"I can only tell you a little, it's for the best, and you have to promise not to ask more questions once I say I'm done." She nodded her head,

"Your mother was from Polynesia, her father was Arian and her mother was Polynesian she was very tall, as I said, she had blond hair, and blue eyes, a curvy figure...not a stick person! But at any rate, she was a ESP officer, one of the best they had, Trelawny met her once, it wasn't a pleasant sight, your mother called her a paranoid imbecile. She was like that, said whatever was on her mind, she was brilliant as well, she had a degree from a muggle university in Genoa, she loved Italy, it was in psychology. Her parents didn't play a part in much other than her downfall, they were like Draco's parents in a lot of ways, their alliances and expectations and so forth. She liked psychology, she said that there was more magic in taking the time to understand someone, that there was in making them do what you want with a spell…we were very close friends. I still miss her…that's all"

"You forgot my father…please tell me something about him."

"He was never worthy of her. He was lanky, odd looking, they didn't seem right together, people watched them walk around the school, hand in hand, passing notes and laughing and no one even noticed. No one thought that he was worth her, they would have rather pretended that she felt bad for him, than admit that they loved each other. It would be like you and Neville and Cho, totally impossibly, and even if it did happen, no one would acknowledge it. He was a klutz, always tripping on things, saying the wrong things, his hair was never even as tamed as Harry's, it was longer, black, no one liked him, he was worse than Neville, because he wasn't even all that nice. He was a muggle born, she didn't even care, she laughed when he was cynical and hateful, she doted on him, like he was something special. He wanted to pursue a career in necromancy when she died, he was sure that it was all just a lie, that she was still alive. They sent him to a mental institution, he died there, that's how you ended up with your parents. They were the worst couple I'd ever seen in my life, he would snap and her and she would just smile back, and give him a kiss. She would forget a date, and he would come to the brink of tears, just to find her apologizing for the rest of the night every way she knew how. It didn't make any sense that two people who were so different could see each other like gods, she wasn't even in touch with reality, and he was convinced that the whole world was coming to an end…it was an odd situation, but they loved each other more than Lilly loved James, and when she passed, anyone who knew them said it was too bad she wasted her time on him." He sighed and looked to Illy, who was now crying even more.

"Nothings going to work out for me is it?" She asked, wiping the hot tears from her cheek.

"Don't say that, it will all be fine, you've got good friends, and you have me." He said, rubbing away some of the tears himself, with his thumb.

"My parents were madly in love, but somehow horrible for one another! My mother died in birth, my father died in a mental institution, my adoptive parents can barely speak to me since the accident, I'm on two sides of a war that we all know is coming, and I can't even remember anything from before I was eleven…what about that will be fine?"

"You'll see one day, just how important you are, but for now I'll be here to remind you whenever you need it." She smiled back at him and moved awkwardly to sit on his knee as she muffled her sobs in his shoulder. Snape's body was rigid, his face terrified, and his mind completely frozen as the thirteen year old sat on his knee, all too young and exposed for his liking. She lifted her head from his shoulder,

"Servius, why couldn't you have been my father? You do a far better job than anyone else has." She smiled at him through her tears.

"Don't be ridiculous, Vladimir loves you more than you know."

"I think he _likes_ me less than you know."

"You're acting like a child again."

"I'm just a kid Servius, you can't blame me." She finished wiping the tears off her face with his robe. He smiled at her and stroked her hair as she snuggled into his shoulder.

"You have class right now don't you?"

"So? Haven't you ever skipped a class?"

"You're using a mushy old man just to skip class, that's a horrible thing to do."

"Bullocks! You're not old, and if I just wanted to skip class I would have done something far less emotionally straining."

"You know you have your mother's temperament, you got you're crying from your dad, but she would just smile all the time, no matter what happened, she could watch everyone being mean to him, and get all fired up, just like you do, only to turn around and smile as they walked to class together, while he cried…It was a horrible misshapen thing, but it was right for both of them, they were like a sunny spring day, and sleet in the middle of October, you need them both. And now, when I look at you, you're both of them all in one."

"thanks," She said with a yawn, before resting her head back on his shoulder, and drifting off to a light sleep.

The class bell woke Illy up, she was still sitting on Snape's lap, and he had managed to drift off to sleep as well, or at least he was asleep until her head shot up, eliminating his would-be-pillow.

"Shit, I have to get to my next class, I'll see you later." She said giving him a hug, and small kiss on the cheek.

"Stop cursing all the time, and pull that skirt down!" He shouted after her as she opened the door to his office. "AND EAT SOMETHING!" He yelled out the door of his classroom, before quickly retreating back into his office, tomato red, as students stopped to look at him.


	18. 17 Pranks and Pansy

AN: More goodness coming up

AN: More goodness coming up. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 17

_The house elves had come again, they always came a few hours before he did, to fix her hair and put her in another dress. If she stunk badly they would bathe her, but usually she had to urinate on herself just to earn a bath. She was running out of time before he came through the door again, and she had almost no where left to hide strips of fabric. She had been tearing them from some of the under layers of her dress, tucking them into hiding spots to tie over the cuts, she would skip drinking water for the day, to clean the incisions with. She finished putting hiding a final strip underneath her chamber pot just as he burst through the door. He was angry, that was good, it meant more beatings, but he didn't usually rape her after he beat her as much as he was about to. She had lost track of days and months, but she was used to this, save your food, don't make noise, do what he says. _

_"You disgusting wench! Come here!" He screamed as she rushed to stand in front of him. _

"_Yes Sir." Her voice was stoic; he had taken her emotions, just like everything else. It wasn't even rape anymore, she let him do what he wanted, she had stopped fighting after the first few weeks, it was pointless. _

"_Don't I scare you anymore?" Malevolence was an art to this man. _

"_Of course you do Sir; no one is more powerful than you." She played out the line, just like usual, being sure to feign a crack in her voice and a quake in her posture as she said his name. He could tell she was faking; he pulled out his wand, _

"_Sectumsempra!" a crimson gash shot across the girls legs, starting at the shin of the left and traveling to the outer thigh of the right. He smiled, and reached down to touch the blood with two fingers, smelling in before wiping it on her dress, "I can smell your defiance; we'll need to get rid of that." He cast the spell again, putting a gash across her face, she reeled in pain, turning her face just in time to have the spell miss her eye, being blind wouldn't make getting away any easier. He laughed at her efforts of self preservation… _

Harry was back from the hospital wing in time for dinner that night, but by Sunday afternoon Draco still hadn't returned, and Harry and Ron weren't making Illy feel any better about it.

"He's probably going to blame this on Buckbeak too!" Harry said as they walked back from the great hall. Illy didn't say anything, she just frowned, Harry moved to her side and laced his fingers into hers. Draco's absence had given him opportunity to slip into a closer, and defiantly more physical relationship with Killious, if walking her from class to class and tagging along for a majority of her outside of class activities wasn't enough his constant insistence on holding her hand and giving her pecks on the cheek at every opportunity had the school buzzing about "Harry's new girlfriend" Illy hadn't even noticed, she just wanted to get him to leave Draco alone, which was usually easiest if she went along with whatever he wanted.

"Now Harry, you were there when he apologized to Illy for the whole thing, how can you stay this mad at him? Illy told us his side of the story, so do you think that the perpetual teasing is necessary?" Hermione scolded. Harry just glared and moved his had from Illy's to wrap his arm around her waist. In honesty Killious' soul escape from worrying about Draco was going to the astronomy tower tonight. She still couldn't sleep, and had been staying up all night with Jackquinn studying dreams since the night before the accident; Jacky usually passed out around one A.M. but Illy wouldn't give in until three or four in the morning, her dreams were worse than worrying about Draco, the lack of sleep shortened them, but made them more intense.

"It's fine Herm, he can think what he wants." Illy did her best just to avoid conflict, Harry smiled at her,

"See, she agrees" He said triumphantly, everyone waited for her response, but she was silent.

"She does not! He may be a total ass but there's no way in hell she wouldn't defend him, just drop it Harry" Ron reeled at him unexpectedly. Hermione gasped, and Illy nodded at him, before lifting Harry's arm from her waste and turning to Ron.

"Thanks for saying something…Harry I don't know what he's really sorry for, but I don't much care. You can use his being in a hospital to your advantage with me all you want, but at least don't pick on him when he's not here." She turned around and continued walking, Ron continued with her, but Hermione and Harry were totally confused at the moment. Harry felt bad, he hated Draco, but this could create quite a problem in his plan to ask Killious out. He rushed back to her side,

"I'm sorry Illy, I didn't realize that it was bugging you so much," she shrugged off his bullshit apology and continued walking, in no mood to carry on the discussion. She hadn't eaten since Draco had left, and a diet of all beverages wasn't leaving her with the energy to stand up for anyone, let along be picky when they lied to her.

As they continued to the entrance hall Harry once again put an arm around her waste, but just as he was leaning in for a goodbye kiss the twins showed up from the kitchens painting.

"Illy, come with us!" They called in unison to her, she brightened up at the opportunity of getting away from Harry, as she ran across the hall towards them. "We've just found the most amazing thing in the black lake." They said as they led her through the painting.

"Guys, this is the opposite direction from the lake, shouldn't we be heading towards my dorms?" The painting shut behind them and Ron, Hermione, and Harry were left standing there, silent and confused.

"Tough break chap." Ron tried to comfort Harry by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"A lot of help you were!"

"Hey, it was better that I stopped you than then let you keep going on about Draco, I'm a disaster at reading people and even I saw that."

"It's true, Harry, if Ron notices something like that and you don't…it's a pretty big deal." Hermione tried as they all headed up the stairs.

"Forgive me for my short comings, having a man running around trying to kill me hasn't been stimulating to my ability to focus on much of anything." Harry sighed in frustration as Hermione waved them off and headed towards the library.

"Except maybe her arse, did you see how short that skirt was today." Ron spoke excitedly, relieved that Hermione had finally left. Harry perked up,

"Yeah, the only good part of my day." Harry chuckled as they made their way to the fat lady.

"But I think she's been loosing weight, she hasn't been eating with us, so I don't know, but I think I'm going to sit with her tomorrow to make sure she eats something. Draco won't be happy if he comes back to find her wasting away."

"Not you too Ron! He doesn't care about her at all, she's just a piece of ass that he want and can't have. How many times do I have to explain this, I'm so much better for her than that animal!"

"Hey, now what about me?" Ron asked, disappointed with Harry's underestimation of Ron's feelings for Illy.

"Oh, well of course…but Herm would try to kill you, she's like your mother or something." Harry jeered as they walked to a couch to start divination homework.

"Is not!...shit, we were supposed to ask one of them to help us weren't we?" Ron frowned as he looked down at the star chart.

"Bloody hell, I guess we'll be making this stuff up again."

Illy was more careful in picking a hair this time, she wanted to be someone distinct, well known, just to see how he would react. She waited until 11:55 to use her potion, to give her as much time as possible in her transformed state. She strolled down the halls, carefully and quickly, making her way to the highest point in the castle. She pushed open the hatch door to the tower, struggling in her particularly weak body to pull herself into the room, a gentle hand reached out to help her. She smiled her thanks as Theodore Nott greeted her. She hugged him tightly and planted a passionate kiss on his lips within seconds, running her fingers through his dark hair. His reaction was more tame than she expected, rigid in fact, and she took a step back when he didn't respond in the least to her kisses.

"What's wrong?" She asked, running the backs of her fingers across his jaw.

"Pansy what the fuck had gotten into your head?" He asked her with disdain, "I know I asked you out last year, but really, this is ridiculous, you're the one who wanted someone else, and you may be a total whore but I'm not that desperate, I don't need his leftovers." Illy's face turned bright red, something that never happened to her in her body.

"Shit….fuck….Theodore, that's really you…oh, well in that case I guess I should explain."

"You bet your ass you should! Not that, that wasn't the best kiss you've ever given, but still…"

"I'm not Pansy, and that wasn't my best kiss. I'm meeting someone here, he's late I guess, but we use polyjuice to hide who we really are."

"You expect me to believe that? Who is that impractical?"

"We are, and yes I expect you to believe it, I didn't even know you had asked Pansy out last year!"

"Well, it wasn't exactly public information…you're not going to tell anyone are you?"

"No, why should I?...what are you doing here?" It looked like she was off the hook and she relaxed as they took a seat near the window.

"I like it here…it's nice. No one comes up here usually."

"You don't have any one special to bring up here?" She asked, suddenly feeling bad for him as she realized just how alone he usually was.

"No." Was his curt reply.

"Why not? You're not exactly a bad looking guy Theo, but I don't even see you with guys."

"I know…I don't really like the people here. I don't need them, why waste my time with silly children?"

"I understand that I guess."

"No you don't, you're just another silly little girl Pansy, you run from one boy to the next just like everyone else, don't pretend to be something you're not. I won't tell anyone you were here and you can keep you're trap shut about me, but don't think for a second that I believe you, or someone dumb enough to run around crazy with polyjuice potion is anything but immature!" He snapped and jumped to his feet. He headed to the hatch only to have it open before he could reach it, Seamus Finnegan peeked his head through the hatch,

"Is that you?" He asked, clearly shocked out of his mind. Nott stared in utter confusion before turning back to Illy, pointing with his thumb.

"No your whore is over there Seamus, could you get out of my way." Seamus hurried out of the way and closed the hatch behind Theodore.

"What was that all about?" He asked Illy.

"I have no clue, but that is one cold son of a bitch."

"So, decided to go with a public icon of trampy behavior I see." Faux Seamus questioned.

"And what are you, kind of shamrocks? Get over here." She said, standing to throw her arms around his neck, and greet him with a less aggressive kiss that before. "So, is there an occasion for dropping a year and several inches?" She asked the boy.

"Well, I figured that you get to jump ages, so why not me." He smiled mischievously and stepped back towards the window. "I have a surprise." He moved closer to where the window hit wall, pulling on a cord, that in turn dropped the curtains that made up the walls around the room. "When Trelawny started teaching here she enchanted the walls, for this very purpose." He said turning around the room with awe.

The sight was breathtaking, the whole room was illuminated by the stars, which danced in an out of sight behind the swirls of clouds that were passing through the sky.

"Wow, it's amazing." Was all she could say, as he walked up behind her and snaked his arms around her waste, inhaling deeply to catch the scent of her hair. He scrunched up his nose,

"You smell like Draco's cologne!" She turned around a put a hand on her hip.

"That's impossible, Draco had been gone for almost a week, there's no way I could smell like him!" He laughed, entertained by just how much she was acting like Pansy at the moment.

"Well calm down, I'm not the one who smells like the devil! Besides, you probably bathe in it at night when you pray to your shrine of him!"

"He's not the devil…and I don't worship him, she does."

"Well, that should narrow down my hunt for your true identity, half of the slytherine girls are in love with Draco and the other half are in love with Snape, I'll take your confession to be a relieving denial of the latter option." He laughed as he pulled her close to him.

"I'm not in love with either one, I'm special." She said, kissing his neck, and nibbling on it softly.

"Oh really, well I can think of only one girl in Slytherin who fits into that category." She started to unbutton his shirt.

"Oh, and who would that be?" She asked as she kissed the freckles on his chest.

"It's not important, that's not who you are, so I'll just have to pay more attention to your table." Shivers ran over his body as she kissed down his stomach.

"I think you had better muscles the first night we met." She said seductively.

"Thanks, but I figured I'd try someone new, I'd hate for this to get mon-"

"Shut up babe." She silenced him with a finger, before pushing him into the pile of pillows she had been sitting on with Nott.

She straddled his waste and kissed him roughly, pulling his shirt off without breaking the kiss. "I believe this is where we were last time." He said, smiling at her devilishly.

"Oh, well I wouldn't want to be boring." She pulled his hands about his head and pinned them there, forcefully. He didn't exactly put up a fight but her unusually brisk and aggressive behavior was not unnoticed. She began to kiss down his chest again, gripping his wrists tighter the farther shot got. She hit his belt buckle, raising her head to smirk at him, before using her free hand to begin to undo it.

He easily broke free of her grasp and stopped her before she could get his zipper down,

"Stop it." He pulled her hands away and looked into her eyes.

"What? Does Pansy disturb you that much?" She asked, trying to return to her mission, he wouldn't let her.

"You're not doing this because you like me…what has you upset?" He asked, sitting up and taking her in his arms. She shook her head, appreciative of the thick curtain that Pansy's bob provided.

"I don't want to talk about it, I'm just worried…" He pulled her to his bare shoulder, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"I don't find ways to see you just because it always ends with us snogging, you know that right?" He asked, tucking her dark hair behind her ear. She was quiet, almost impossible to hear,

"I do now" He pulled her chin, so that she was looking him in the eye,

"No more kisses tonight, just talk to me." He said, brushing his warm hand across her cheek.

"It's hard to talk about my personal life without telling you who I am."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

"Right now it would…I have too many men in my life to be jealous of one another as is, and I'm not even dating them! I'm pulled between two sides of an impossible battle!" She was exasperated and tired, dreadfully tired.

"I'll be on whatever side you are." He leaned back onto the pillows, taking her with him, letting her rest her head on his chest.

"I don't even know what side I'm on, this runs deeper than school, this is bigger than that."

"Deatheaters."

"And family loyalties, blood lines, all those things, who has power, who has money…"

"Don't let the Slytherines like Draco talk you into things, yes they have money and power, and family ties, but just because you feel excluded doesn't mean you need to change your views….besides your family would be disappointed in you, you can't choose popularity over them." He wrapped an arm around her waste and used the other to gently stroke her hair. She sighed, desperately trying not to give herself away.

"I guess you're right, family makes the decision don't they?"

"In the end you do, but usually your parents know what's best for you."

"Yeah…I wish that were true…" She whispered the last part.

"What?"

"Nothing." She relaxed, starting to gently drift in and out of sleep, she could tell he was doing the same as his breathing became steady and he stopped petting her hair. She smiled, preparing to let herself drift completely, when she heard a loud creek from the door at the bottom of the ladder. Her head shot up and she shook the boy next to her,

"Wake up, wake up right now, we have to move!" She urged him as she helped him back into his oversized shirt. He sluggishly stood up looking around the room for what had disturbed his rest. "There are people coming, they must think we're Black, we need to move." She grabbed his hand and started searching for windows to escape through. She found a loose pane of glass, but she could hear the intruders advancing up the stairs. She pulled a desk on top of the hatch and pushed the glass through, it fell almost nine floors, as she looked down on the daunting climb below them, there wouldn't be window sills to climb onto for two floors. She turned to him,

"Can you apparate?" He shook his head no.

"I'm still learning, we're not going to jump out another window are we?"

"We have no choice, hold onto my hand." The two stepped up to the open frame, they could hear the table being shaken from below.

"On five, ready?"

"How can you be?"

"One, two…" The desk fell over,

"Five!" He yelled as the jumped, Illy focused on the image of the ground, they had been falling too long, she tried harder.

POP! They landed safely, just a few inches above the ground, before turning to find a secondary entrance to the school. The cellar doors were a few feet away, they hid in the shadows. As they moved towards the entrance they could hear McGonagall and Snape from above, cursing and searching for Black. Illy tapped on the cellar door three time,

"What do you want?" It bellowed harshly.

"Hush please! You know policy!" She held up her Gringott's key for the door to see, it swung open immediately, and slammed again once they were inside the cellar.

"Can you get back from here?" She asked, the boy nodded again, still somewhat sleepy.

"I can manage, will you be okay?" He asked, giving her a final hug.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She smiled up at him, he gave her a soft kiss goodbye, "I thought you said no more of those for the night." She teased.

"It has to be one or two by now!" He whined back, she giggled and they went their separate ways, towards bed.


	19. 18 Hold me, Hate me

AN: This one hand me biting my nails while I wrote it…I'm pathetic but it's alright

**AN: This one hand me biting my nails while I wrote it…I'm pathetic but it's alright. –Richard S.**

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 18

**Killious spent the first thirty minutes of her class ignoring entirely everything Snape was saying, she stared intently at the seat next to hers, the empty stool that use to contain her best friend. **

**"After we've added the aged clever cloves what should we add next…Killious, enlighten us." Illy glanced up at once, hearing her name torn her from her memories of the night of the chess tournament, she had just reached a good part of the mental movie. She had played it over a thousand times since Draco left, if was her last genuinely important memory of him. **

**She glanced at the board where Snape had written 'Pondering Potion', **

**"You powder the cloves and then you add extract of lavender." She shrugged before returning to her intense staring contest with the stool. Snape sighed and went on with his lesson. Illy's gaze had trailed to the floor, she looked across the room to the scorched ground where Harry and Ron's cauldron had leaked and fallen on Ron's foot, just as she did a piece of paper fluttered to the stool beside her. She opened it slowly, hoping that it wasn't another attempted flirtation on the part of Harry, she read the text with drawl enthusiasm: 'I've missed you more than you know.' She glanced around the room, no one was looking her direction, she scribbled back, in the purple ink she favored, regardless of grade deductions. 'If this is who I think it is, I've missed you enough to want you back, even though you'll be upset with me' She sent the note off towards its owner, it fluttered to a part of the room behind her that was out of her line of vision. **

**Illy scratched down a few notes on the lesson to appease Snape, he had noticed the notes but hadn't said anything yet, it was best to encourage that. A new note landed on her desk, 'What could I ever be upset at you for' It was Draco, or a very cruel person, but most likely Draco, she decided to play with him a little, 'I'm sorry, but me and Harry, well I was lonely and we spent the night together…and we didn't sleep' she added the last few words for good measure and sent the note on its way. **

**"YOU DID WHAT!?" Draco shoved the door to the class room, Hermione gasped, Ron's face lit up with a smile that he shortly after stiffed, Harry scowled, and Illy was out of her seat before any one else had time to react. She launched herself into his arms, throwing her hands around his neck and pulling her knees up as he hugged her and spun her around. Ron's smile had just left by the time Illy had buried her face in Draco's shoulder, Harry was outraged, he stood up, knocking over his stool as he did so. **

**"Tell me you did not really shag Potter." Draco whispered into Illy's hair, as he ran his hands over her back. She pulled her head from its spot on his shoulder, tears in her now black eyes. **

**"Of course not!" He smiled at her, leaning in to plant a long over due kiss on her lips, **

**"Do you think you could save it for a more appropriate time?" Harry sneered before Draco had a chance to claim his kiss. He immediately pulled his face away from Illy's and instead set her feet back on the ground, though he refused to let go of her. **

**"Must you ruin everything Potter?" Draco glared at Harry as he pulled Illy tighter, emphasizing his power over her at the moment. Illy was tempted to stop the fight, but she was even more tempted to snogg Draco in front of the entire class, so she sought the happy middle ground and nuzzled herself deeper into Draco's chest, breathing freely for the first time in a week and a half.**

**"Only when you disrupt a class for the sake of trying to jump one of my best friends…again." Harry put bitter emphasis on the end of his sentence. **

**"She ran to me Potter, not the other way around." Draco's grip on Illy was loosening, he had missed fighting with Harry almost as much as he had missed Killious. Snape was debating whether he should laugh or throw Draco out of the class. **

**"If I had someone threaten to rape me I'd do what they said too!" Illy's eyes widened, Harry had always been aggressive, but this was excessive. She let go of Draco's waste, earning her a puppy face from the boy, but she had to stop this before it got ugly. She opened her mouth to speak in Draco's defense, but he put a finger to her lips. "I'll take care of it, I wouldn't want you thinking that I can't protect my own honor, let alone yours love." **

**"Potter, I do believe that it could be considered malicious verbal assault to accuse a fellow student of rape. I'll leave your class now professor Snape, I would hate to disrupt it further." Draco nodded to Snape who did the same. Harry took his seat again, but still watched maliciously as Draco hugged Illy tight one last time, "Get a pass to the restroom." He said before leaving with a signature Draco Malfoy hair flip. That was when Illy saw the bandages, Draco's hair was longer than ever, down to his eye brows, and it was hiding some nasty bandages, several layers thick in one spot. Illy took her seat, tearfully as she attempted to wipe away her tears, only smudging her eyeliner across her face. Her hand shot into the air, **

**"Yes?" Snape asked, slightly shocked when he looked at her now smudged face. **

**"May I be dismissed to the restroom?...to fix my makeup." Snape narrowed his eyes, giving her what she had affectionately labeled the daddy eye, of disapproval. He knew just what she planned to do, and fixing eyeliner would take no where near that long. None the less he nodded and dismissed her, killing his parental instincts and returning to the lesson at hand. Illy would have to find a way to explain this to Harry that wouldn't send him into another rage, as she walked by Harry she placed a hand on his shoulder, and mouthed out a small, "thank you" he could decide what it was for on his own, she had better things to do. **

**Illy slipped out the door of her class quietly, making sure the door shut completely as she looked around for a certain Slytherin prince. Draco was no where to be found, she must have left sooner than he imagined, she walked to the bathroom, floating on air the entire way, doing her best to be patient, she would see him at dinner, that was enough. She wiped off the smudged liner and ran a brush through her hair, doing her best not to dwell on Draco, he would dominate her thought for most of the class inevitably, but that didn't mean she couldn't fight it. She washed her hands, unsurprised by the cessation of her urges to clean herself. Instead she found herself satisfied in just warm water and a small amount to soap, no scrubbing, no picking, or at least not for now, the morning would be different, mornings always were. **

**Illy opened the bathroom door and almost screamed out of pure delight. Draco stood across the hall in an alcove that receded around four feet into the wall, just enough space for two bodies to be undetected. His hair was in his eyes again, and tipped around his neck, it was perfectly straight, but choppy, about as shaggy as a Malfoy could get. His pale skin was accentuated by the dark grey sweater he wore, it was one of Illy's favorites, soft, reversible with black stripes, cashmere. A collared white shirt with grey pinstripes peaked out of the top and bottom of the sweater, tucked into the front of his designer jeans behind his belt buckle, but left to tail in the back of his pants. He was staring intently at the stone floor in front of him, one foot on the wall, the other on the ground, his shoes were black dragon hide, this man wreaked of wealth, he even smelled like it. **

**"I didn't thin purebloods were aloud to shop at muggle stores." Illy moved towards Draco, who lifted his head and reached out to put his hands on her hips possessively.**

**"I didn't know that mudbloods were vixens as well as demons." He smirked at her, moving each thumb to rest just inside the top of her skirt. "My father takes me on vacation a lot, we have to fit in, but of course we don't because no muggle spends this much money on clothing without being some faux god." Illy smiled warmly, as she craned her neck to rest it on his shoulder, inhaling deeply the scent of his body.**

**"What did the doctor's say?" **

**"Just that it was a miracle I don't have permanent brain damage, I guess we can thank Pomfry for saving my arse in the end." **

**"I'll have to make sure I do that." Illy whispered in his ear. He rubbed his thumbs over her hips once or twice before moving closer to her face. She closed the distance with a kiss, plunging her fingers into his now long hair, he backed her towards a wall, his hands moved over her butt, he lifted her up off the ground, pleasantly surprised when she wrapped her legs around his waste. He moved one hand to her back, and the other ran across her face and to her hair. She put a hand underneath his sweater, gently running her fingers over the spots where her nail marks had been. **

**"I had quite a time explaining those to the nurses, I hope you know that." He slipped a hand back to the top of her skirt, using his thumb to massage the inside of her hip bone. She moaned into his mouth, sending chills downs his body and giving his already swelling erection a boost that it really didn't need.**

**"That was the idea. Now unless you want more keep your mouth shut and continue." Draco now employed both hands, relying only on his hips and the wall to keep Illy up. Her chest pressed against his, it was oddly unfamiliar, but Draco ignored it and continued to work his thumbs steadily closer to her panty line, he withdrew one hand and put it under her shirt, hoping to get in a decent grope before Killious had one of her insane mood swings and decided to head back to class, his hand ran over her ribs, he went entirely stiff and set her back on the ground, gently but firmly. **

**"Killious, open your shirt." Illy panicked, **

**"I will not Draco Malfoy." She tried to kiss him again, he allowed it but broke it quickly. **

**"Fine, pull your skirt down."**

**"Draco, that's a bit much for a hallway don't you think?" She giggled at his rash behavior, but he remained serious, he pulled the skirt down to the top of her panties, exposing her protrusive hip bones, dotted with blood vessels that had risen to the surface of the worn skin, but never quite spilled. **

"Killious what the fuck is this?" He asked, clearly terrified of what he saw.

"I'm an obsessive compulsive cleaner Draco, you know that." She tried to brush off the subject as if it were nothing.

"It was never this bad…you haven't been eating." The pieces were coming together, as he ran his hand over her bony hip again.

"I have too, ask the twins, and really it's not worse than before." She tried again, but was silenced by the severity of Draco's stare. She went rigid as he squatted next to her, putting an arm around one of her legs as he pulled the knee high down from the other. He looked away quickly. He could see her muscles and bones like a skeleton for anatomy, free of any body fat, and more over, covered in shiny spots where skin was beginning to re-grow and scabs from freshly lost flesh. Draco pulled the stocking up again. Small glass like tears in his eye were forming. He stood up again, pushing her cloak aside completely and unbuttoning her shirt slowly. As he parted the shirt he gasped softly, every rib was visible, her skin was less damaged but she had shrunk almost a cup size and her already grotesquely thin frame was now a skeleton.

"I went to a hospital and let filthy muggle nurses touch me, just so I could get better for you. And when I come home…you've been killing yourself all along." She waited for the anger, for a shove or a push, something. Instead her pulled her close to him, his tears wetting her hair. She stood limp in his arms, clueless about what to do.

"Aren't you mad?" She finally asked. He looked her in the eye, and lifted her chin to keep her focus.

"How can I be? This is my fault. I should have stayed, you have to sit with me at meals now, every meal, and I'll taking that damn sponge of yours, and I'm putting you to bed at a decent time."

"It's not your fault, what could you do? Sit and feed me three times a day? Take a shower with me every day? Sleep with me to make sure I rest?" Draco smiled deviously.

"If need be, I shall do it even now." Illy was confused…dazed and confused. "Now get back to class, I'll see you at dinner, we can do our best not to scare the life out of one another from now on." He smiled at her softly, guiding her face to his an kissing her softly, running his tongue over her lips, but pulling away before he did more. "That's the last one I'll steal…for a while at least." He left in bright spirits, happy but pensive.

Killious walked back to her class, being sure to correct her hair and robes. She took her seat again and Harry blew a note her way. She slowly opened it, not interested in what it had to say, but trapped by his stare. 'We need to talk after class.' She could feel the indents from the words on her fingers, he was pressing hard when he wrote this, maybe he was smarter than she had thought. Killious spent the rest of class scribbling notes onto her parchment and glancing back at Harry, who appeared entirely cool, a headache was brewing the longer she sat in the room, maybe it was just the smell of the pondering potion. Illy was actually beginning to dose, slipping into dreams she was uninterested in facing, but powerless to resist.

_Illy could feel a hot hand across her cheek, she glanced down at her current day body, confused by the lake side surrounding. A figure was present, the person who had just slapped her, but they were too fuzzy for her to see. The reached out and grabbed her by the roots of her hair, pushing her down, so that they could tower over her. _

"Class is dismissed." Snape informed as Illy returned from her daze to find the professor staring intently in to her eyes, she blinked several times, it felt like there was a thin layer of something over her eye, almost like a gooey contact lens. The feeling went away and Snape broke his gaze and Killious gathered her book, turning into Harry who was waiting for her just outside the door. He reached out to her elbow, tightly wrapping his fingers around her arm, just above the joint.

"I told Ron and Herm that we'd see them at dinner, so that we could talk." Harry pulled her down the hall, and up a flight a stairs, dragging her out into the sunlight, down by the lake. Illy tried to protest, eager to see Draco once more during class changes, but his grip tightened and she followed without another word. "We'll go strait to herbology after we talk, madam Hooch won't mind if I'm a little late." He spoke lightly, as though he wasn't putting a death grip on her arm. They stopped beneath a tree large enough to hide the two of them from a distance.

"Harry, can you please let go of my arm now?" Illy chose her words carefully, he may have been smiling and speaking pleasantly, but his eyes were ablaze with anger and jealousy. None the less he released her arm and spoke gently,

"Killious, tell me what exactly you have with Draco."

"Nothing, we're just friends." His eyes sparked with rage, but he calmed himself and began again.

"I know that's a lie, everyone in our potions class knows that it's a lie, you two were about to rip each other's clothing off on the spot." Harry spat through his forced smile.

"I promise, we've talked about it, we're just going to be friends." It was too late to tell the truth. Harry snapped, he pushed her against the tree and backhanded her, leaving a hot stinging sensation on her face. She whimpered but stood her ground.

"You will not embarrass me." He smiled at her, the sick gesture sent chills down her spine.

"I…I t-t-told him that we needed to st-stay friends, but Harry" She was pleading for him to calm down in her vocal inflections. "please, I just got caught up, I haven't seen him for a long time." Harry seemed appeased by the confession at first, but suddenly he reached out and grabbed her by the hair, pushing his weight down on her, she slunk below him leaving him a foot and a half taller than she was, he smiled brightly,

"Keep it that way. I don't want anyone hurt. Now clean yourself up, you look like someone ravaged you." He snorted as he turned around, waiting for her to straighten her hair and clothing out again. Harry was disgusted with himself, but something about her made him angry, crazed and jealous all at once, he wanted her body, but some part of him hated her insolence deeper than he could explain, she needed to understand that he was the one in control. She tapped him on the shoulder timidly when she had fixed herself again. Harry nodded and laced his fingers through hers with a smile, she understood, it wouldn't happen again.

"You look good lately, tired but good." His complement passed right through her, she was in shock over the whole situation, she would have to do her best not to be alone with him. He led her back inside the school, towards her class, her heart began to beat in double time as she saw Draco up ahead, she tried to pull her hand from his, but he tightened his grip. Draco noticed, but instead of causing conflict chose to keep walking and ignore the secret couples presence. He sighed inwardly, she was just as much of a slut as Pansy…but at least she had never snogged him and his worst enemy in one day, or ever for that matter.


	20. 19 You don't know your own power

AN: I think I'm getting better at making these longer

AN: I think I'm getting better at making these longer. So applaud me and shower me with reviews please! –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 19

Class crept by, Illy's head was thumping so loud she couldn't think, finally she raised her hand.

"Yes miss Enquirous, a question?" Professor Sprout asked.

"I have a terrible migraine, I think I'm going to be-" but before she could get the sentence out she found herself retching into the pot of soil in front of her. Jackquinn rushed to pull her hair back and motioned for Dolan to help him. Killious wiped her mouth with her sleeve, the vomit was black, tar like, and strung out from her mouth, sticking to everything it touched like slime.

"Are you alright?" Dolan asked, helping her steady herself. Christian stood off to the side, he didn't do vomit…ever. The smell at the moment was enough to send him over the edge, Sprout seemed to share his inability to cope with bile, as she was already covering the tar-like substance with a layer of dirt to trap some of the smell, which was rather like sulfur and blood.

"Actually I think I'm feeling quite a bit-" She was cut short again by another spell of regurgitation, just before she fainted. Jackquinn caught her a split second before her skull collided with the stone floor and Sprout piled on more dirt.

"Get her to Pomfry, right away!" She shouted to Dolan and Jackquinn, "You can stay Christian, it won't do any good to have you getting sick all over the place as well. Millicent, take care of this pot." She instructed, pointing the girl in the direction of the back door.

Dolan and Jackquinn escorted an unconscious Killious to Pomfry's station, making light conversation along the way, as they did their best to keep from shaking her up too much.

"What was that, the stuff she threw up, it was like ink." Dolan asked Jackquinn, who had given Illy to his older, larger counterpart.

"I've read about it actually, it's either the result of a bleeding ulcer, meaning its made up of stomach acid and blood…or, and this is pure myth, so I'd bank on the ulcer thanks to her perpetual malnutrition, but I've heard it happens to young peoples with…with mental abilities."

"Meaning what? She can think really hard and make herself sick?"

"No, meaning she could have the gifts of precognition, or telekinesis that's stronger than most wizards, possibly telepathy…or even all three. It's characteristic of those with very powerful ESP."

"What's ESP?"

"Extra sensory perception, she might be able to predict the future, or move large objects with no wand, or talk to you in your head…but I doubt it, it's probably just a horribly degenerative stomach ulcer that will render her in bed for a day or two…as long as we catch it now, other wise it could potentially kill her."

"I'd hate to think that she could read my thoughts right now." Dolan sighed, he passed Illy back to Jackquinn for a moment, he took her easily and carried her bridal style as the two talked.

"Why what are you thinking?" Jackquinn asked, Dolan looked to his feet, shuffling along noisily to evade the silence that followed the question. After several seconds he tried to renew the conversation.

"I'll take her back if you like." He offered.

"Dolan I'm not as much of a child as you think. I'm certainly more mature than most of your friends, I'm smarter than the rest of my class, and I'm not even physically all that small." Dolan shrugged before looking over at Jackquinn's arms, they were banded with thick muscles. Jackquinn caught him looking and stared back with his ice blue eyes at Dolan, his face looked almost frozen in its current expression of wise indifference. It sent shivers down his spine to see the boy stare unabashedly at someone older and larger than himself.

"You…you um, have nice skin."

"It's black, one more thing to separate me from most of my house, and the rest of this school for that matter."

"But it's nice, it's not ashy or anything, just smooth, even you must take good care of it…and besides, I like the color." Dolan was still staring at the bulging muscle that Jacky's rolled sleeve revealed.

"I'm an excellent groomer." Jacky enunciated every consonant heavily, as he stared back at Dolan, unblinking. The silence left Jacky's words ringing in the air around Dolan's head, and the odd framing of the conversation was making him uncomfortable.

"You are pretty big for a kid your age I guess."

"I don't look that much like it, but yeah. I used to be on a wrestling team, and I played some rugby, a little lacrosse as well. I was pretty athletic before I came here. Quidditch isn't really my game, I like to use full contact, to collide with people, to fell the burn of your lungs when you're entirely out of air and each breath is painful."

"That's a little sick." Dolan adjusted his gaze to the hall in front of him, as did Jacky.

"No, it's not. It's masculine you moron, I just got into it more than most."

"I see, I wasn't even aloud to play quidditch. My parents were convinced we were too good for anything that could physically harm us."

"Woman." Jacky's words alone seemed like an insult, but the tone, the mood, and the context of their knowledge of one another's well guarded secrets made his accusations more like a statement than cruel mockery, Dolan still wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry not all of us can be raised in inner city London with an accent that makes no sense and a mother that gushes over our every victory and triumph. Besides, you cry more than I do!"

"I'm not afraid to cry, it's natural, good for the skin, and I'm not shy either, I know that its coming next, I'm just observant."

"Yeah…you know everything, your life is just great Jacky." Dolan complained as he looked back to Jacky jaded and irritated. The younger boy was three inches shorter than Dolan, making him just about five foot five inches, but you could tell he was bound to end up bulky.

"Don't say that Dolan. You have a good family, pretentious, and most likely not entirely accepting of you, but still, they love you. They're normal for us, they know what magic is, and you actually have a father. Don't take them for granted, after you've spent four summers backpacking across France, depending only on your hitchhiking skill to get you everywhere without being killed by some sadistic serial killer or raped by a band of art thieves, then you can tell me how great my life is." Jackquinn chuckled at his own jokes, and shifted Illy's weight in his arms.

"You don't have a father? But you're always getting letters from 'mum and dad'"

"They're trying to help me, I'm like a breathing minority orgy, I just need to be female and paraplegic to cover every base."

"So you're parents…they're…"

"Both female? Yes, they adopted me when I was nine, Michelle, the one who is always sending letters, her best friend was my actual mother, and Tatiana, the one who bakes, had promised Michelle that if anything happened they would take me in. I already spent most of my time with them, my mom did a lot of traveling across the country for her modeling, so when she died, they adopted me."

"How did she-"

"Another time, we're here." Jackquinn nodded toward the door.

"This girl is going to kill me." Pomfry bustled about the room, searching for her wand.

"I think that a little test and a lie down would be enough." Dolan suggested as he found a bed for Illy.

"Oh, and what test might you suggest Mr. Cook?"

"Jacky…er, Jackquinn thinks that she might have a bleeding stomach ulcer, she's not been getting enough food or sleep lately, worrying about Draco and all." Pomfry nodded and dropped a cotton swab sample of the vomit left in Illy's mouth into a clear jar of water. She added a few ingredients from bottles labeled in short hand, and stirred twice. The liquid became volatile, shifting from browns, to greens, to yellows, to blues, to reds in a matter of seconds, before settling on a black color with a deep plum tint. The boys were transfixed, Pomfry turned to them cheerily,

"Not a stomach ulcer I can tell you that much, now shoo back to class, so I can call Dumbledore to take a look at this, she'll be down for dinner." The boys didn't move they wanted an explanation. "Get, it won't do you any good to stare, she's not sick, just tired, so shoo." She waved them toward the door.

"Now wait a minute," Dolan began, determined to see if Jacky's second theory was correct. But before he could finish Jackquinn put a finger to his lips and grabbed his hand, pulling him forcible toward the door as he gaped at the strange turn of events.

Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and Trelawney stared at the liquid test results that Pomfry had produced. Each one absorbed in their very different reaction to what was happening. Dumbledore was pleased as punch, or as much as he could be when a students health was at risk, Illy was just what he had presumed and even more powerful than he had thought. McGonagall was puzzled, the results could have been a mistake but if they weren't it would mean a world of trouble for the school if he-who-must-not-be-named found out. Trelawney was just about to piss herself from pure excitement, she was bursting at the seams, a real, genuine possessor of mental power lay on the bed to her left, and this test was proof to anyone in the wizarding community who doubted it. Snape was a jumble of emotion, he was mortified that no matter what he did to protect Illy from her past it would find a way out of her, he was scared that her body was always seeming to work against her, he was happy to find out that she had so much of her mother in her, he was proud that she was even more powerful than her mother was, and most of all he was entirely stumped as to what his course of action should be.

Trelawney was the first to speak, which irritated Snape and McGonagall a bit because in reality she had no reason to be present, as she was neither teaching nor related to the girl who was sleeping beside the troop of faculty members; not to mention that the only reason she had shown up was because she had received a "vision" or in other words a psychic tremor so large that every advanced wizard in the school felt something slimy brush up against their skin, though only a few knew what it meant.

"She should begin training at once." Her words were even more infuriating than her presence. "I sense great danger for her, but power none the less."

"Yes thank you for that clearly advanced analogy of the current situation, I would have never guessed without your insight." Snape snapped at the wide eyed woman.

"Now servious, be kind to our dear friend." Dumbledore instructed, "These events may be none of her business, but she is present none the less, and therefore we must be kind." Trelawney looked triumphant at first, until she realized that Dumbledore had not in fact really been defending her.

"The school must be thought of first. If we have a…well if we have one, it won't go unnoticed by you-know-who." McGonagall offered, uninterested in turning the conversation into a fight. "So Sybil, what exactly are we looking at?" McGonagall asked the woman to her right. She may have been a total fraud, but she had spent enough time studying that which she acted, to know what the signs before them meant.

"She's not like what I've seen before, prophetic, gifted with smoke signs, star, palm and omen reading, none of that is new to the school, but she could be much, much more." The bug eyed woman narrowed her eyes on the liquid before them. She was in her own world enough to miss that Snape had drifted to the left of the group and was now at Illy's side, holding her hand and whispering to the sleeping child.

"Sybil, please elaborate, we need specific signs that point to what you're aiming at." Dumbledore coaxed her along, softly, but with enough authority to eliminate any chance of the woman deciding to bring the paranormal into discussion more than she had to. The art was rare enough in the wizarding world that a majority of high power wizards scoffed at the very idea of genuine precognition or prophesy.

"Fine then," Trelawney moved towards Illy, leaving the jar behind. "the test results mean nothing to me, other than that she has powers that no one can refute, but those conclusions could develop from a student as unbelieving in mysticism as Granger, just because you have the gift doesn't mean that you'll learn to use it properly." She took Illy's hand, and flipped it palm side up, she stroked the creases in the skin softly at first and then with her nail, all the while watching Illy's face. "Her lack of reaction to physical forces means that her dreams are deep enough that she's having a hard time escaping them." Snape reached the end of his rope with this superstitious woman.

"Yes we know! She won't eat, she's obsessive compulsive with her hygiene, she can't sleep, she's developed an unnerving psychological attachment to Draco Malfoy, and this is far from her first experience like this, tell us something we don't know or get out! Besides, she's just taken a light sleeping draught you dolt." He sneered at the woman, eyes narrowed and teeth bared, his unnatural looking canines shining maliciously at her. She recoiled in shock, almost whimpering and pointing at Snape's teeth,

"The sign of the serpent." She began.

"Oh do shut up!" He silenced her before she could drag the moment out longer. Snape's teeth had been that way since he was young, in his own way he liked them, but he had trained himself not to let them show, though they had their moments of chauvinism. McGonagall waited for Dumbledore to say something, but he was busy with his own thoughts, so he just nodded to Minerva for approval of her taking command of the meeting for the moment.

"Both of you be quiet, we don't need her awake for this. Now listen, Sybil do your best to put superstitions and dramatizations aside, Servius do your best to catch Sybil up on everything that she's missed in the life of Miss Enquirous." Snape nodded and turned to Trelawney who had calmed herself down and was ready to listen.

"A few weeks ago Ike- I mean Miss Enquirous of course, passed out in her common room. She had a few visions jumbled together; Draco caught several of them too, as they were in a rather…inappropriate situation. At any rate, she had the visions, gained back some memories of very traumatic past events, and then she passed out. I set everyone's head back as if she had never had the visions at all, so they're lost, but that's what happened."

"Let's see those teeth again." Snape looked to Dumbledore who nodded, he put on a beastly grin to sport the teeth, Sybil gave them a good looking over and moved to Illy. The used her thumb to push the girl's lips out of the way so that she could look for the teeth, and sure enough just as her father had them so did she.

"This goes back as far as tarot card signs, you each have a mark. It's very unlikely that two unrelated people with the same distinct sign would ever meet, but her relationship to you would explain them. They are the mark of the serpent: betrayal, cunning, and wisdom. If I had seen these earlier I could have told you that she would never struggle in a class," She looked at McGonagall who was inwardly rolling her eyes at the absurd conclusion. "but the sign of the serpent more importantly means betrayal, she has been betrayed, will be betrayed and will betray. She has no fate but that of a many sided spy." Snape and McGonagall both seemed unhappy with this, but were silent none the less, as Sybil continued and Snape brushed hair from Illy's face. "I can't tell you what she will become for sure, but all signs point to something volatile and dangerously powerful. It's almost set in stone that she will follow you-know-who at some point, but we can only hope for something other than evil in her soul as to why, and we'll also have to hope that he's the one she betrays, not us. She's going to develop these powers independently and quickly, and her link with Draco will probably only speed things up, if we can find a way for the two to be together over breaks it will help, especially since taking him from her could result in what we've seen over the last week and a half taking place for three months. Lastly she is at least a triparaphetic. I would bet everything I own on her having distinct powers of telekinesis, precognition, and telepathy. She has clearly already shared her telepathy with Draco, and her precognition is indisputable for the most part, but I would watch for the telekinesis. She may be a quadparaphetic, in which case she would also be able to speak with the dead, or those on other spiritual planes, if she's strong enough she might be able to raise them as well. Or she could be clairvoyant as well, which would be something indeed. To see a pentaparaphetic with powers of necromancy, incredible…but keep a tight guard on Draco, I have a suspicion that she passed her clairvoyant abilities to him, he may well just go home and see something she saw, and end up going into an epileptic shock over a bad memory she has associated with anything from stones to house elves. It's not that uncommon really, for a strong paraphetic to pass an gift to a close loved one, or someone of lasting significance in their life, we can all guess why Draco might be given such gifts. Well that's all the speculation I can give you without other tools, which I'm certain would upset Servious quite a bit." She concluded and Snape squeezed Illy's hand lightly before letting it rest again at her side.

"So, are you going to tell us what your sources for such outlandish speculations are Sybil?" Snape persisted in his nasty mood.

"You wanted my opinion, and you have it, now I must go and prepare myself to ask the stars for their help tonight. I do wonder how Saturn will play into this…" She began rambling like usual again. Snape shook his head and watched the woman drift from the room, as though she had never acted normally for a moment in her life.

"That was a preposterous waste of time."

"Don't be so quick to judge her." Both McGonagall and Snape turned to face Dumbledore.

"Are you saying that she's right?" McGonagall inquired.

"Who can really know that? Even the greatest of prophecies can be changed; the only person who can determine Killious' future is Killious." Dumbledore smiled and ushered the two from the room, Snape was downcast as he swept from the room, looking for a student to reprimand, particularly Harry Potter. Dumbledore moved back to where Illy slept.

"You know, it is considered inappropriate for a young lady to eaves drop." He spoke jovially through his mild rebuke.

"Is it not also considered rude to talk about those who are not fully present?" She retorted, as she sat up and slid the blankets around her shoulders to her knees.

"Indeed, but children must be watched after by someone should they not?" His eyes were glowing at her bright conversation as he chuckled warmly at her response,

"Then who should watch me? You and the other teachers? I fear you have thousands of students who need your watching. But perhaps my parents would watch, if only they weren't terrified of what a single blow to the head has done to me. So I suggest we let those who conceived me take care of me, they've done so all my life."

"You believe in their spirits helping you then?"

"I do. Besides, you heard Professor Trelawney, I am a necromancer who's to say I haven't brought them back."

"I think you know that's not how necromancy works. But I'd almost forgotten about your incident with the broom, you were eleven correct?" She nodded to affirm his assumptions, "That might help explain why Draco's accident scared you so much."

"Maybe, and maybe it's something else, I don't know. You'd think that someone whose supposed to be a paraphetic would know something about their past, but I don't."

"You must be wanting to go see Draco now, its dinner time so you should head that way." She pushed her blankets off entirely and headed for the door, before turning to Dumbledore,

"I didn't hear everything…I only woke when Snape touched my face, so I expect that one of these days you'll explain things to me fully." Before he could answer she had bolted from the door and headed for the great hall.


	21. 20 Let me write it out for you

AN: Not much to say on this, R&R –Richard S

AN: Not much to say on this, R&R –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 20

Upon entering the hall Killious found herself faced with an interesting dilemma, on one hand Harry had made clear to her that she was not to embarrass him, but did eating with Draco constitute embarrassment? She decided that she would risk it, and head for Draco's right side, as his left was occupied by Pansy.

"Thanks for taking me up to Pomfry."

"No problem." Dolan and Jacky spoke together; Christian sniggered and began with the torment.

"What a lovely couple, they even think alike." He jeered, with little creativity, at the two. The insult may have been pathetic, but it warranted reaction from Dolan. Jacky sighed and continued reading his book.

"What were you there for? Run out of breath from snogging too long and end up fainting?" Draco whispered at her, his voice scathing and harsh, but just as seductive as ever in her own mind.

"Do we really need to flirt at the table Draco? I thought you were going to handle this like an adult." She whispered back as she put skinless boiled potatoes and a small portion of shepherd's pie on her plate.

"I'm handling it fine, how is Harry taking the news?" Her body went ridged next to his; he had caught her in the act. He wanted so badly to look at her expression at the moment.

"You…you t-told Harry?" She stuttered, that was new, he had never heard her stutter in his life. He looked down at her face, rather than an expression of guilt or anger, or any other plausible emotion from her, she was terror stricken. That could only mean two things, one that something had scared her senseless other than him, or two, she liked Harry even more than she had let on.

"Not yet, but what's to stop me? You two seemed fine sneaking around right under my nose, so why not give him the same honesty?" He turned to Pansy, planting a theatrically forced kiss on her lips. She gushed with joy, her lip gloss sticky lips reacting to his with the liveliness of the pie on his plate in comparison to Illy. Actually, the pie was somewhat warmer and tasted better when he thought about it. He was hoping that Illy had caught his shrewd little performance but when he looked to make sure she was irritated he found her glancing around like something was going to eat her. She looked back towards Gryffindor, Harry was staring back at her intensely, not exactly a lover's stare, but their eyes met none the less. Her gaze snapped back to her plate and she subtly withdrew a quill from her robes, she gulped before taking the tip of the quill to Draco's thigh, her warm hand rested on his leg as the cold ink ran partially through his jeans. The sensation was odd, but not nearly as odd as Illy's behavior. He looked down at the message:

_Can't talk Harry is watching. Tonight in the common room 1 _

"And why should I care that the filthy ponce is watching?" Draco asked, flipping his silvery flaxen tresses over his shoulder in Illy's direction, before he made eye contact with her. It was written on her stone gray gaze, her eyes pled; there was nothing but fear in her now. "Fine, but you owe me Killious; I've been put second more times around you than I have in my cumulative years with everyone else."

"Fine, just stop talking to me here." She mumbled as she ate. Draco took note of the behavior, he may have been irritated, but he wasn't a heartless beast, she was eating, for him she was eating. She finished the potatoes and took a few bites of the pie, but it proved to be too much oil content and she just picked the rest of it apart. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, he watched as she picked a carrot out of the pie and ate it slowly, he served her a small helping of stewed carrots that she wordlessly ate.

As the meal was ending Illy stood to make her way toward Harry, but she stopped in her tracks and sat back down as she felt Draco's quill on the skin on her leg. Surly Dolan and Christian had seen his hand slide up the back of her skirt several inches, to place a mark just below her buttocks. He smiled coolly at her,

"Oh, I'm done now."

She stood up and stared down at him, fridgid and irate, before she walked towards Harry. On her way she noticed Jacky looking rather upset from his seat next to Clause. He had left just moments before her, looking bubbly and anxious, but now it appeared he was on the verge of tears. She looked back at Harry, hoping that he hadn't seen her and she could go to Jackquinn, but his eyes were looking for her, no, they were looking over her, ravaging her body with their burning green emeralds. She smiled lightly and walked towards him, taking her seat between Harry and Ron, being sure to leave space to her right, choosing nearness to Ron over Harry at the moment. Harry didn't seem to care all too much and pulled her closer with one arm around her waste, his possessive gesture sent chills up and down her spine.

Everyone at the table noticed how uncomfortable she was except Ron, who seemed too preoccupied with shoveling as much food as possible into his mouth. The twins heads were instantly introverted as they began to discuss what had just transpired, Hermione just gave Illy a questioning look that was returned with no response.

"So, I heard that Lupin already went through the boggart lesson with you all." Illy tried.

"Yeah, turned Snape into a bloody hysterical scene, put him in grandmum's clothes, Neville did!" Ron piped up between scoops of treacle tart.

"I see, that might explain his foul mood earlier today…"

"Pretty sure we did that actually love." The twins reminded her of their earlier escapades.

"Oh yeah, guess I'll be ending up with some cleaning tonight...Did he tell McGonagall?"

"Not to our knowledge, but" Fred started "We've been avoiding her just in case." George finished. "So, tell us how you made the apple."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were on hunger strike, the apple, you never took a bite of it, but by the time we were to the dungeon steps it was gone." Fred explained.

"Oh…that" Illy could feel the warmth in her cheeks, even if no one else could see it. "Well I just placed a self consuming curse on an apple and then used a night rejuvenation potion as a soak while I slept."

"We could use that on…" George was getting excited, almost leaping from his seat.

"THE PET POLTERGEIST!" They exclaimed in unison, before scurrying out of the hall in a flash. The pet poltergeist was their newest addition to Weasly Wizard Weases, and as of yet they were at a loss for a signature grotesque act for the pet to perform, consuming ones undead self and then rejuvenating might just do the trick.

As students rose to exit the hall Illy felt Harry's hand on her own, but she quickly loosed his grip in favor of discovering what had just caused Jacky to slap Clause and storm out of the hall, tears brewing in his pale eyes. She made a move to cut off his path, just as Clause was now doing, but like Clause she was other wise prevented. Clause was surrounded by a group of first year girls, gushing over him and asking stupid questions, due to his recent popularity gained by joining an up and coming band, and Illy was caught by Harry's harsh grip once again. He forcibly removed her from the hall, leaving yet another bruise mark on her arm, which was now dotted with like spots of color ranging from yellow to purple and black. As the crowd dispersed his grip remained tight until Dolan popped up out of no where with a bright, threatening smile for Harry.

"Hey Illy promised to walk me back to my dorm." He said, lacing his arm through hers.

"She's going to the library with Hermione today, I'd hate for her to break her plans, no matter how distressed walking alone must leave you." Harry's words were curt and rude; he had only ever spoken to Draco that harshly before now. None the less Dolan was determined to save Illy.

"Yes well I'd hate to be raped; I need a big strong woman with me. So, tell Hermione she won't be coming tonight."

"I'm certain it's far too important to miss!" Harry insisted. Killious was silent between the two men and sighed in relief when Hermione herself came to end the conversation.

"Actually, tonight I'm rather tired, I think I'll go to bed early." She said, leaving Harry with no choice but to release Illy's arm, defeated. She felt bad, leaving him there on his own, but decided Jacky was a more pressing matter, "Tell Herm I said I'm sorry!" She called over her shoulder with a flip of her hair. She left quickly and Harry stood, disturbed, upset, and gaping at her sudden behavior. That would constitute embarrassment in every sense of the word, a filthy Slytherine fop had just stolen her from him and she had blown of one of his friends to go along with the plan, this would not end well for her.

"We need to find Jacky" Illy was practically running down the steps with Dolan's hand in her own.

"I know, I know…Clause said he would go to his room."

"What in the hell did he do to him?"

"I don't know the details Illy, just that Jacky is extremely pissed off."

"I don't know anything, so tell me what information you do have." Illy slowed down now, to listen to Dolan explain.

"It's really not my place Illy…"

"Dolan, tell me now." She narrowed her eyes on his, stopping to focus on the deep shades of green in them. She repeated her demand for an answer over and over but her lips wouldn't move, the lines played out in her head over and over, "Dolan you have to tell me." She couldn't understand it, she was now screaming at him in her own mind, but as she focused more on him she found herself less and less able to control her own body. Flashes of Jacky in places she'd never seen him were going through her mind, the boys dorm, in the halls surrounded by other first years, segmented second long scenes of conversations she'd never had.

"You're eyes…Illy what's wrong with them." He pointed now, to her grey eyes, little bits of deep colors were swirling behind them, like a storm. She didn't respond. She was caught up in his head, searching his thoughts for whatever she could find, desperate above anything else to try and figure out what was happening to her. 'Dolan you have to tell me'

"What the fuck Illy, you're lips didn't move, you're freaking the bloody hell out of me!" Dolan took a step back as he shouted; her voice in his head was far from comfortable at the moment as deep chills ran rampant across his skin. 'Then just tell me'

"You did it again! Stop it." He was now blinking over an over again, as if the repetitive action would force her from his mind somehow. 'I'm trying.' This time Dolan was still after the words came through his mind, as if he was speaking them himself. Illy's eyes rolled back into her head, her hands and arms shook, and then she was still; deathly still, as if she had been turned to stone at that moment. Dolan reached a cautious hand toward her; she fell instantly, narrowly avoiding the stone floor by way of being caught up in Dolan's arms. Her eyes came back into place and closed now, Dolan pushed hair out of her face and looked around desperately as he held the girl in his arms while he lowered himself to his knees on the floor. His eyes were starting to water but he repressed the tears. Illy suddenly drew in a sharp breath and her eyes fluttered wildly as she regained consciousness.

"Are you okay, what in the bloody hell was that?"

"I'm not sure what it was, I was looking into your eyes and repeating that you should answer me in my head…and the next thing I knew I was trapped in…trapped in your mind." Dolan shuddered at her response and helped her to her feet. Jackquinn had been right about his theory from earlier in the day. they needed to find him now.

"Jacky knows more about this stuff than me, we need to find him."

"That's right…" The fog of the experience was being lifted, "We do need to find him, and you need to tell me what you know."

"Look Clause just, he did some really wrong stuff to Jacky is all."

"Like what? Did he hurt him, steal a girl, what?"

"Look it's nothing you know about okay, just…let's just find him."

"I already know that Jacky has a little thing for Clause if that's what you're talking about, what did he turn him down or something?"

"Illy…he cheated on him! There, now you know." Illy stopped walking again.

"They…were dating then?"

"Since like the third week of school and Clause is…he's just a bit of a whore, so he messed around with a girl or two, and Jacky put up with it, Clause is new to all of this you know, he just came to terms with it over the summer. So Jacky brushed all of that off, but then one day he comes into his room…and you know Clause's band, well he walks in on Clause and the drummer…they were right there on his bed, they were still dressed and everything, but they were making out on his bed, and so Clause makes some bullshit excuse and Jacky believes it, or at least he wanted to. But then before dinner Clause told me that he's breaking it off with Jacky to be with that drummer guy."

"So let me get this strait…Clause is gay, Jacky is gay, Greg is gay, and the reason Jacky has that room is so that he cane orchestrate gay orgies or what?"

"No, not really; let me clear all this up now, Clause is bisexual and so is Greg, actually Greg is just so desperate he'll take anything, you know that, and even joining a band won't help his celibate state at all. Jackquinn is not bisexual…at all, in any way. He's the gayest guy you've ever met in your life, so he felt like it was wrong to stay with the rest of the guys, like having a guy stay in the girl's dorm, it just wasn't fair. So, he gets the little other room thing, but I'm thinking that before he graduates it won't be necessary. Jacky's moms are gay too, their both muggles and so was his birth mother, but apparently his father might have been a wizard, no way of telling though, he's not exactly around. Anyway, his moms will end up blowing the school away at some point. They're both pretty proud of theirs and Jacky's orientation, so being stuck in some other room doesn't exactly make them happy."

"Is there anything else I need to know, because that was no where near not knowing the details you git."

"Yeah, guess I'm a bit of a gossip underneath it all."

"So, anyone else gay that I need to know about?"

"Actually yeah, let's see, Matty is dikin' it these days, Pansy and Matty hooked up once, I have suspicions about Fred personally, Dean Thomas is gay as they come, Bill, Ron's older brother, well he actually hooked up with some mystery man two summers ago, Draco used to have a huge crush on Harry a while back, hence why he teased him so, and then last year they made out and Harry beat the fuck out of Draco for talking to him in public so he pretty much swore men off after that, and then there's the Ravenclaw's wow, some crazy people there, okay Lina Sminter's is a huge lesbian, she's hooked up with Tailor Cruth, Samantha Wellington, and Kacy McClintock in the last year alone, most of the guys over there are bisexual, but hey they're an intellectual people, not a social one I guess it's the smarter way to got. Jacob Bryan's is gay, there's some speculation about Theodore Nott, but yeah, that's about it, oh and Hufflpuff has less gay students than any other house, Ravenclaw takes first, followed by Slytherin, and Gryffindor takes third, which is too bad, we need some people with balls to go ahead and come out, it's not like this school is immune to the dilemmas that face the rest of the world or something, we just have a chance to handle things better than muggles do."

"I'm in shock right now is there a gay hotline in this school I'm excluded from or something? I mean really, Matty? That's disgusting, Fred is not gay at all just so you know, and I have some interesting proof that will tell you Theo isn't either. Wow, Draco and Harry, good god, he let him beat him up over all that."

"Actually no, when Harry hurt him Draco started working out. He was pretty small before all that, he got hung up on the whole 'no one will ever hurt me again' thing over the summer, and he's been getting bulkier since then. But he wasn't meant for men anyway, he just wanted to get back at his dad. It's too bad; we'd have loved the addition."

"Wait… 'We'd have loved the addition'? Are you…Dolan."

"Yes...I actually just kind of found out…I noticed some things about Jacky and they reminded me of myself. I mean it's not like the thought of a woman would make me sick or something, Dean and Jacky are the only kids in this school gay enough for that, but still, it makes sense."

"Oh…that's what that was…you're in love with Jackquinn aren't you." Dolan's eyes were on the floor in a fraction of a second.

"He's smarter than me, and stronger, and more athletic, and…and we live in two different worlds…its doomed Illy, I'm not going to start anything I know will fall apart."

"Oh shut the fuck up and don't wallow in self pity, now, seeing as Clause clearly doesn't know a thing about Jacky after all, where would he be lover boy?"

"Don't call me that, and don't mention all this to Jacky…"

"Chances are, if he's as smart as you make him out to be half the time, he already knows." Dolan sighed and turned around in the hall. "Where're you going?"

"He's under the wailing willow on the northeast end of the black lake…"

"I told you that you'd know…wait, we have a wailing willow?"

"Yeah we do…it really just sort of moans in the wind, but it's there non-the-less. Students tend to shy from it though, it's a little cryptic to listen to it, but Jacky goes out there almost every day."

"Changing our profession to stalker are we?"

"No…after the day that Draco got hurt in the common room I've been hanging out with Jacky a lot more, we go out there together sometimes, to talk, or read, or just sit."

"You two are as bad as Draco and I, lets go."

Illy and Dolan managed to sneak out of the castle with minimal difficulty as dinner had only just ended, and the duo soon found themselves walking Jacky back to his room explaining Illy's experience in the hall. "We'll need to look further into this. Illy you need to write down anything odd that happens to you of this nature from now on. The sooner after the event the better…" Jacky was engrossed enough in the odd turn of events to momentarily forget grieving over Clause and in stead he spent half the night awake and actively conversing with Illy and Dolan, who took shift napping and reviewing what Jacky had taught or theorized with them. By the next morning the three decided to stay up late for the rest of the week together. On Friday they agreed to skip herbology and instead sleep so that they were all ready for Lupin's class on Boggarts, which had been temporarily suspended, thanks to some kicking and complaining from Snape's side of the school.


	22. 21 Fire in my loins

AN: Some juicy stuff in there

AN: Some juicy stuff in there! I love the boys don't I! –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 21

_The girl was just beginning to drowse when he arrived, angry and hurried. Sir wasted no time with abusive banter and quickly discarded the girl's panties and unzipped his own trousers. His smile was malevolent as he took full advantage of her groggy and weak state, his aim was to bruise and brutalize, and it excited him in every respect. She had learned to close her eyes, to just wish that it was over and more importantly to never disobey what he said. He seemed to be getting close to finishing already now, he must have been late for something, or perhaps his wife had demanded he not take long, whatever it was that caused him to rush, she saw it as welcomed relief. The twisted smile that seemed to haunt her crossed his lips as he thrust and pressed on to her small frame, _

_"It hurts you doesn't it?" He smirked as he spoke to her. She had learned long ago that he delighted in the pain, he was a sadist in his heart and nothing made him happier than to see her scream or beg. _

_"Yes Sir, it hurts more than I can bear." She let her tears flow now, to be convincing in part, but mostly because it honestly did hurt. He pushed harder, deeper, more painfully. _

_"I miss your screams, beg me." He was trying to finish off now, her lack of enthusiasm towards patronizing him was slowing him down. _

_"Please stop! Please it hurts! Ahh!" She let out a shrill scream and scrunched her eyes closed as he finished with a violent thrust, accompanied by grabbing her by her hair, which had actually produced the scream. _

_"That's good…you're beginning to like this, next time you can beg for it, you foul little wench." He stood to leave, promising something that she had never been forced to do before upon his next visit. It meant he'd be coming back soon, she wouldn't have to save her food as long, and he might even send potions for healing her. She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, rocking gently back and forth, choosing to pay more attention to her aching pelvis than to her growling stomach. From her spot near the door she could hear something in the basement besides the skitter of small rodents. There was a boy laughing…Sir's son. She had dreamed more than once that he would save her from where she was trapped, but she knew better than to think that he was alone, Sir would be sure of that. _

_"Really? A new broom!" The boy was scarcely containing his excitement over his father's gift. "Can we fly it now?" She could hear him starting to ascend the steps with the new gift. _

_"Of course, and now you know why it's important you stay away from the basement, if I find out you peak at your gifts, then I'll get rid of all of them." Sir explained to his boy as his heavy feet followed the boy's up the stairs. "Draco wait until we get outside to take off!" She could hear Sir faintly yelling from the top of the stairs before the door slammed shut. _

Illy woke with a start, instinctively reaching a hand between her legs, before remembering that the dreams made her sore, but never tender. It was a pain entirely in her head. She rolled over and reached for the notepad by her bed, she had been writing her dreams down for Jacky and Dolan, though she had yet to show the book to the two, Draco and Lucious' presence in this fantasy world had been disturbing enough, but their perverse roles were far more than she was willing to deal with just yet. Illy scribbled down the dream as fully as she could remember it in shorthand, something she had picked up from her parents that kept snooping muggles from learning more than they needed to. After a glance at the clock she decided that since she had skipped her morning run, stretches and crunches would have to do.

After a light workout she headed for a shower, pulling on her short skirt with garters and a tie with her oxford, before following up with standard hair and makeup. On the plus side of sleep deprivation, Jacky, Dolan, and Illy's research in the mentally paranormal was enough of a distraction to help ignore Harry's odd and possessive behavior. Though her arms were now covered with small and large bruises from his death grip, which at one point could have understandably injured Draco quite easily, Illy found that complying with most of his demands was the easiest way to escape his rash actions. Draco on the other had not taken his behavior so lightly, and had deemed it necessary to have Crabbe and Goyle focus less on doing his bidding and more on guarding Illy whenever Harry came around.

Illy let out a soft yawn as she hugged Jacky and Dolan before heading towards her D.A.D.A. class. The two had spent every night of the week in Jacky's room, though they claimed that their intentions were purely research based, and more importantly they refused to cave in and just date one another. Illy smirked as she turned a last glance towards the common room to see Dolan place a possessive hand on Jacky's knee as Greg, the drummer from Clause's band, ran out of the room with an armful of scrolls for his astronomy class that was due to start in two or three minutes. The two would be coming in late to Lupin's class, she could tell already.

Illy walked across Lupin's now clear room to where Draco stood, smiling at her mist eyed, still yawning figure. The class didn't buzz with the same anticipation as Lupin's earlier classes, as they knew that the wardrobe at the far end of the room undoubtedly contained a boggart.

"Illy, I do believe that this thing will end up being a warm bed and plate of food for you." Draco commented as he tucked her into the space between his arm and breast, she jut nuzzled closer appreciatively.

"In that case we had better move to the back of the line, I'd hate to come across such a foe." Illy giggled, as Draco picked her up bridal style, and carried her to the back of the class. Giving Lupin a flash of her clasped silk stocking and her pin-up style garters. He grinned like a fool at the sight before doing his best to divert his vision. Draco caught the glance from the teacher and audible growled into Illy's ear as he pulled her skirt down over the garter, and gave her thigh a light squeeze. Lupin had a habit of staring a bit too long at the extroverted overly intellectual teen and had, had a second run in with Snape over the matter of her private tutoring. Illy gave Draco a brief hug around the neck before heading to speak with the professor. He had possessive moments but he had been doing very well given her situation with his worst enemy, so she usually let them go unmentioned.

"Professor Lupin, do I still have private classes with you today?" She asked in an overly aesthetic voice. She could hear Draco scoff from the other end of the room, she had a way of flirting far more than he liked with the professor, even though she claimed it was only because he was out in the halls at night far too much for her to be on his bad side.

"Actually, I've been meaning to speak with you about that." He said after swallowing hard and pulling his gaze from her cleavage.

"What about? I'm still not actually clear on why you had asked for the classes."

"You see, well this school supports defense against dark arts more than their use, and in honesty…well Illy, your amount of functional dark magic spells in contrast with your ability to defend them is quite nominally skewed."

"So what you're saying is basically that McGonagall thinks I'm going to join forces with the dark lord and kill a few of her prized pupils."

"Now Illy, she would never tell me if she was thinking that, we're just seeking balance is all." This was actually upsetting her a little, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"This is bullocks! I'm one of the best students in this school, I get better grades than ninety-five percent of her students and she just doesn't like it. I have more important things to be thinking about right now, I'm not wasting time on these lessons." When her lips closed again she pulled her hand over her mouth, surprised that she had snapped so quickly on the teacher. Lupin smiled and slowly pulled the hand from her mouth, Draco watched on in horror as the professor proceeded by pulling her chin up and moving his face closer to hers, locking his eyes in on hers. He could just imagine what the old pervert was saying, whispering flirtatious comments about her pointless after class lessons.

"Illy don't feel bad. It's fine really, you're exhausted right now, always for that matter, well since Draco got hurt, but anyway…we know about the other things that are occupying you," Lupin began, Draco still couldn't hear the old man but, he watched as Illy shuddered and began to rub her arm behind her back, he cocked his head when he noticed the black and blue polka dots that were spaced across her skin. "We know you have some special gifts. After Jackquinn and Dolan brought you to Madam Pomfry, after your vomiting spell, we realized what the signs meant. We're prepared to help you in any way, and coming to these classes is important. If you're as strong as Trelawney believes that you are, then defending yourself against you-know-who is very important." Lupin explained things as though she was a child, it was insulting, but none-the-less her stiffened posture relaxed when she realized that Snape wasn't using Lupin to condemn her friendship with Harry.

"So that's what all this is about…I can take care of my own problems. I know that I'm into some weird shit but I don't need a team of nosy faculty talking about my business behind my back. I'm going to talk to Snape about the classes, if he wants me to go, I will, otherwise, you can forget it." She turned on her heel and marched back to Draco. Lupin gawked for a moment as all of her flirtatious energy was dispersed in a matter of moments. Finally he moved to his spot next to the wardrobe,

"We'll begin now, we probably have time for ten or eleven people so who wants to go first?" Pansy's hand shot into the air as she giggled and rushed to the front of the group. Lupin opened the Wardrobe nothing emerged for several seconds before finally out came a large albino vulture, Pansy shrieked and ducked behind Christian who was himself paralyzed in the sight of the bird. It took a huge lumbering step towards him, its head was an inch or two taller than his own, Christian gulped as the boggart began to change. This time it took the form of a snake woman, bare breast and hissing at him. Lupin stepped in and banished the serpent woman to the cupboard and began his lecture on laughter.

"I should have expected scarier things than Snape from a bunch of Sytherin's I guess!" He exclaimed finally, as he wiped the small beads of sweat from his brow. "Where did those come from?"

"I was attacked by one when I was just a kid. They live somewhere in the Swiss alps, vacationing there and all." Pansy explained flippantly, trying to regain her façade of cool evil.

"I met one once…a year ago. A serpent woman I mean, she looked just like that, but she wasn't nearly as set on killing me." Dolan tried to laugh off the last part of his statement, but everyone could hear the dreamy tone of voice he took as he talked about the creature.

"Alright, well if you're all ready we can try again on the snake woman, I'd prefer if you don't mind Pansy, to not be eaten by a vulture larger than I am." Lupin gave her a small smile and started towards the wardrobe again, just as Jacky and Dolan walked in. The class only spent a second looking at their entrance before they were again absorbed in the lesson at hand. Illy however, did a double take. Dolan's hair was tousled and messy, his shirt was un-tucked in the back and Jacky had a freakishly large grin across his lips. Killious giggled to herself and Draco gave her a questioning look.

"What's with you? First you flirt with Lupin, then you freak out and snap at him, and now you find the fact that Dolan was just snogging the hell out of Jackquinn funny. Really, you're so odd." Illy was slightly shocked when she first heard Draco talk about Jacky and Dolan so nonchalantly, but then she remembered his history with Harry, so of course he picked up on Jacky and Dolan by himself.

"You're painstakingly late you two." Illy sneered as they came to stand by her side.

"Yes, well we found something very interesting in one of the…books, back in the room." Dolan explained, letting his smile swell as he spoke.

"Well unless you want to explain to the entire school I'd wipe that grin of my face and fix myself up, both of you." She scolded before tucking in Dolan's shirt for him and beginning to fix his hair.

"Hey, hands off my man." Jacky spoke under his breath.

"As I recall you still haven't actually left your other man, and you," She said turning to Dolan. "Have a very heterosexual best friend to explain all of this to, so I'd think things through if I were in your position." The mood of the group fell instantaneously. Technically speaking she was correct, Jacky had stormed out on Clause before he could actually finish off their relationship, and Christian wasn't going to be an easy road block. Draco looked at the two, now down trodden, boys.

"Don't worry about it, she's just got her knickers in a twist because Lupin's been acting like a fucknuckle…well that and because I haven't untwisted them for her yet." Draco joked as he places a lingering hand on Illy's hip. She snorted and crossed her arms.

"Well what do you expect, the puff's almost got laid and all you can do it ruin the mood." He mocked as he moved towards her ear. "Besides, I'd love to help you relax a bit." His voice was smooth and seductive as he nibbled lightly on her ear.

"Draco, behave yourself in public." Jacky chided.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to be as obvious about our scandalous affair as you and Dolan." Draco smirked as he moved away from Illy, leaving her to pout and sulk on her own.

"Actually I was just thinking about how closely Lupin is watching you right now. A half naked snake woman is about to eat Dolan, who is both terrified and getting a boner over the situation and he's not even doing anything about it. He's just staring daggers into the back of your head; he's sort of close to Harry isn't he?" Draco didn't bother to look over his shoulder, he knew it was true.

"In that case," he put a hand on Illy's lower back, "Let's give him a show." Draco tried to pull her closer to him but she wouldn't move. "Ok, that's it, what the fuck is wrong with you? When have you ever passed up a chance to play with a teacher's mind?" Draco was utterly exasperated with Illy's silent, brooding demeanor.

"He wants me to come after class to talk about my problem…" She glanced over at Dolan and Jacky who nodded solemnly. Draco looked confused.

"Does it have something to do with these?" Draco snatched up her wrist and shoved the sleeve back, revealing the bruised arm. Jacky turned his head away, Dolan gasped. "Is this something you've done? Illy I can't take another surprise like the one in the hall…"

"What do you care? You won't even talk to me unless Harry's not around."

"Don't divert from the subject Illy."

"No, I'm not doing it to myself ok. I don't hurt myself on purpose alright! When you were gone it's not that I was trying to starve myself or stay awake for days…I just couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, it wasn't a choice." Illy's eyes were starting to turn black.

"Illy, why don't you go next." Lupin called from the front of the classroom, having noticed Christian's failure when the boggart was banished by the laughter of the class when they noticed the spectacle in his pants. Illy hesitated,

"Explain things to him." She directed Dolan, who nodded and turned to Draco. She walked slowly to the front of the room; she knew what she'd see. If she had to do this it would be best to have Draco distracted from what was going on at the front of the room. She glanced back over her shoulder, he was listening to Dolan but, as always, his gaze was focused on her.

"Professor Lupin, I really d-don't want to do this" She stammered.

"Everyone needs to face their fears Illy."

"But not all of us need to do it publicly, in front of people it will hurt."

"Your fear isn't hurting anyone but you."

"You know that's bullshit. This isn't some animal, well actually he is, but it doesn't matter, my fears are private. You know for yourself that I see things most people don't so I'll come to your after class whatever's, just let it be."

"Are you sure? You can still ask Snape. I'm not going to black mail you." Lupin smiled, "I would never really make you do something you don't want to." He placed a hand on her shoulder, Draco's eyes narrowed. "Don't worry about it kid." Lupin said, offering a bit of chocolate and pulling a piece of lint from her shirt. Draco snapped.

"I'd like to go now!" He called from the back of the room. Dolan chuckled,

"She's going to be the death of you one day, I hope you know that." He smirked as Draco walked to the front of the room.

"Alright the Mr. Malfoy, come on up." Lupin ushered Illy to the side. Draco strode to the front of the room. He stood in front of the wardrobe, cracked his knuckles, and tucked a bit of his hair behind his cheek.

"Ok, I'm ready." Draco turned and winked at Illy, who just sighed and shook her head. The wardrobe door opened, Draco closed his eyes and thought hard. The boggart slowly emerged, the entire classroom stood still as a filthy little girl in an elaborate dress, with curls in her hair emerged. Illy's eyes widened and she drew her hand to her mouth, the little girl was the child from her dreams, but before she could say anything the boggart changed. This time it was a snake, pure white and emanating evil. Whispers broke out among a few students who came up with ideas about the snake. The boggart changed again after four or five seconds, contorting and settling on the form of disgusting and deformed infant of some sort, its slits for a nose moved softly in and out as its gaze focused on Draco. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes one more time, banishing the creature and calling a new one, the class was now dead silent as the bell rang. No one thought about moving however as the now towering beast before them threatened to break the roof of the room with its sheer size. The snarling reptile lurched towards students, its long slick body must have been four feet in diameter, its huge snapping jaw was hooked on the end and in the place of ears were webbed protrusions like those of a fish's fin. It was a rare dragon, they dwelled deep underwater and were known for their lack of hesitation in consuming human flesh. The sea serpent of old that could crush a ship in its jaw was in juvenile version and continuing into adult hood at an alarming rate. The beast quickly encircled the students, pushing them all into a designated perimeter with its ever expanding body. Draco breathed deeply again, the dragon stopped moving, suddenly in shock over it's own appearance, as zebra stripes and polka dots now constituted the pattern of the beasts flesh. The class erupted in laughter, immediately shrinking the boggart down to its beginning size. Draco smiled wickedly and called forth a set of miniature wings that did their best to pull the still immense beast towards the roof. The class, once again, was hysterical as the boggart continued to shrink. He turned to Illy who was herself now laughing and mouthed out to her, "for your enjoyment." Instantaneously the dragon was outfitted with a lightning shaped scar and bottle glasses. The room became so loud in a matter of seconds that the boggart was cowering in the wardrobe and Lupin was struggling to calm the students to get them to leave.

"That was excellent Draco, quite entertaining, even though it was a bit cruel, but I cannot object to such mockeries, Snape hates me for a good reason." Lupin whistled and clapped with the rest of the students, who were still in an uproar as they left the room. Draco left with Illy, smiling and taking in the ego boost that his fellow students offered.

"So, now that your best friend is the most revered man in school, shall we go ahead with that kinky and lustful affair?"

"Oh shut up!" She said in good spirits as she hit him in the shoulder.

"What, would you prefer Lupin?"

"That's disgusting, he doesn't even like me, notice how much we fought today."

"He just loves your banter. You know he only wants you for that big sexy mind of yours babe."

"Don't call me babe Draco."

"Fact remains, he thinks your brain is hot."

"So do you, and besides, he only wants to use me as a weapon in a war I have no part in."

"You haven't chosen a side?"

"Did you let Dolan finish explaining things to you before you decided to be a chauvinist or what?" She quickly dodged the subject of choosing sides as the duo headed towards the great hall.

"If I think your brain is hot then you think my chauvinism is down right erotic. And yes, I let him finish, mostly…he got through the majority of things and was going into theology and shit so I just sort of tuned him out."

"Why is that?" She asked, stopping just inside the door.

"I like to hear things like that from you. That mind of yours gets me off, like Christian and his snake woman." He smiled and turned towards his table. "You coming?"

"No, I told Harry I'd sit with him."

"I see, well just so you know, the ink from the other day, it'll last for a few weeks unless I give you the stuff to get it off, you can thank the twins."

"Draco you make my life so irritating."

"What? If you don't want me to see you in your knickers long enough to remove it, then Harry doesn't need to see them long enough to notice it."

"Bloody pain in my arse." Illy shouted as she began to walk away.

"Fire in my loins!" He shouted back, particularly loud. His ego made him feel invincible, and slaying a Dragon in second period put him into a euphoric high.

"Hey Harry…Ron, Hermione, Fred, George." Illy smiled as she greeted her friends.

"Hello love." Fred and George chimed.

"Hey Ill" Ron smiled back. He nudged Hermione, but she was engrossed in some book on animal rights and merely nodded. Harry remained silent as he ate his lunch, though he glared intently at Illy for well over five minutes. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat next to him, nibbling idly at her cucumber and tomato salad.

"Oh leave her be Harry, everyone woulda laughed at it." Ron final broke the friction at the table.

"Really, would you have laughed?" Harry snapped back.

"Yeah, I reckon I woulda." Ron said indignantly.

"We definitely would have!" The twins joined in again. Harry was silent; he just placed a hand on Illy's thigh and continued to eat. Illy's shuddered under his touch, knots forming in her stomach as he squeezed lightly every now and then.

"So, how goes the pet poltergeist?" She asked the twins, hoping to distract herself from Harry.

"It's alright, but we need some way to make its act of self cannibalism better…" George informed.

"bloodier, grosser, enough to turn a stomach." Fred explained further.

"Actually I need something from you two."

"And what might that be?" They asked, leaning in and sniggering.

"I need something to remove your semi-permanent ink from my skin."

"Oh, well where is it? I'll just take it off now." George began, exaggerating all of his actions, they both knew damn well, someone had told them.

"I'd rather just purchase a bottle of remover."

"Why, is it somewhere we can't be looking?" Fred chided.

"So what if it is? Just give me the damn potion."

"Now who would have put something somewhere on Illy that she's actually ashamed to show the school?"

"Look, it was one of Draco's stupid pranks ok? So just give me the potion."

"Oh, well in that case. He informed us that we were not to sell you remover."

"That little bugger! I should-"

"Shut it Killious. The whole damn hall heard what he said; we all know perfectly bloody well how the ink got there." Harry interrupted her.

"What exactly are you implying Harry Potter?" The twins asked, excitedly.

"We all know what he's implying…I think I've had quite enough to eat. I'll see you all for the Hogsmeade trip." Illy collected her things and headed out of the hall silently. The moment she was gone Harry regretted what he'd said. Everyone at the table was glaring at him now.

"I'm sorry alright, I'll go apologize." He stood up and went after her, at a slightly brisker pace. "Illy, come back, I'm sorry." He called after her from the top of the dungeon stairs.

"I'm going towards D.A.D.A." She informed him, startling him half to death when he heard her voice come from behind him.

"Oh…I'll walk you." He offered shyly. This was good. Usually he was violent when she upset him. His coy side was much easier to live with. "I'm really sorry Illy …he just makes me jealous. He's already your best friend and it's hard to compete with him. His family has a lot of money and their really famous and he's popular and"

"I get it Harry. Don't kill yourself talking about how great Malfoy is."

"Yeah, I guess you already know…but anyway, I guess I just get away from myself some times, I don't mean to."

"I know Harry, its fine. But just so you know, we weren't doing anything together when he put the mark on. It was actually just one of his stupid jealousy things."

"Oh, where is it? If you don't mind my asking."

"Back of my thigh, he put it there at dinner the other day when I stood up to go see you." Harry's light expression faded. He blinked hard twice.

"Did you tell him to keep his hands off of you?"

"What?"

"Did you tell him that he needs to keep his bloody hands out of your skirt Illy?"

"It wasn't like that, it was just a joke."

"Well I don't want his goddamn joke up your skirt." He was starting to get fiery about the subject.

"Harry it's really not a big deal. I have to go to this class; I don't want to go tonight, so I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow." She gave him a hug and practically ran into the class room.


	23. 22 We can change in the blink of an eye

AN: Ok, Illy and Draco have been getting a little bit overly emotional in my opinion, so I think that I'm going to do what I can to put them back in character…Sorry about that but I'll try

AN: Ok, Illy and Draco have been getting a little bit overly emotional in my opinion, so I think that I'm going to do what I can to put them back in character…Sorry about that but I'll try. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 22

"I thought we agreed on after school Miss Enquirous." Lupin sounded aggravated as Killious set down her bag.

"Why the sudden formalities?" She asked, before noticing that Snape was standing next to Lupin at the moment. "Servius!" She brightened up immediately, not wanting to bring up the subject of her mood, or what had created it more particularly. Snape nodded in her direction coldly, but his eyes pleaded for her to behave herself.

"I see I'm not alone in my fondness for Illy." Lupin smiled at Snape.

"I believe that you are alone in _your_ fondness for Miss Enquirous." Snape looked disgusted at his fellow teacher, glaring inadvertently at the young man as he eyed Killious' now attentive and poised form. "If we've all regained our composure and our respect for student teacher relationships I believe that this would actually present a worthy example of what exactly you plan to teach Miss Enquirous during her private lessons." Lupin nodded and Snape took a seat.

"First I think that performing the boggart exercise that you bi-passed today would be a good start." Lupin didn't even give Illy time to object before he flung open the wardrobe door. It took less than a second for the tall and slightly younger than present Lucious Malfoy to step from the makeshift hold. Shivers went up and down Killious' spine. She cast a worried glance toward Snape, whose eyes looked like they were about to fling themselves from their sockets in surprise over Lupin's rash behavior. The flashes and visions of all her dreams hit her head on. Lucious' expression changed from calm and collected to furious and licentious.

Snape leapt from his spot in a chair as he shouted for Illy to come to his side.

"Ike, get up now!" His breath was wasted as she crouched onto her knees and covered her ears, scrunching her eyes at the time. "Ike move!" Snape tried again to no avail as the boggart's appearance became progressively more animalistic. The shirt covering Lucious' form disappeared, revealing a toned frame, speckled with blood. Illy's head flung back to reveal her completely black eyes. Lupin gasped at the situation, he was trapped between a hysterical teacher and a frantic student. Snape rushed to Illy's side, pulling on her arm as hard as he could but she was bolted to the floor. Visions of Lucious' cruelty shot through her brain like lighting bolts. Her voice quivered as she let out a soft,

"…stop." Snape tried again to pull her arm, but the bone broke in his hand like a twig under the pressure of his grip. The boggart moved closer, loosing clothing as it came. Its eyes were ravenous now, full of thirst for more of the fear she had to offer. It reached out a hand towards Illy, "Sir, please!" She called out softly, like the cry was from the back of her throat and drowned by tears, this time Snape watched as her leg snapped, blood pooled around the protruding bone. This memory was not something he wanted her remembering. Lupin chose the moment to step in with a helpful wand, banishing the naked boggart back to its wardrobe.

"What…in the hell…was that?" He asked, mystified by the turn of events. Snape scooped up Illy, not noticing that her wounds were no longer present.

"You stay the fuck away from my daughter! I told McGonagall that you had no idea what you were doing. You know nothing about her. You're just a dangerous filthy animal!" Snape shouted before turning to leave the room. Lupin stood entirely still, surprised by Snape's reaction to the event. He watched the door slam and ran a soft tongue over his canine teeth,

"More like me than you think…" he whispered to himself as he recalled the vision of Snape's teeth.

Illy woke up just a few minutes after she got back to her room, her bed was warm though, so she figured she'd been there for a while. It was probably almost dinner time at this point, and she wasn't looking forward to eating with Harry, dealing with Fred and George's jokes, Snape's condescending stares, Hermione's lectures, Jacky and Dolan's sticky situation, Christians disturbing jokes, Ron's thick headed comments, but most of all she wasn't in the mood to deal with Draco or either of the whores that would no doubt be making obnoxious efforts at tossing him in the middle of dinner in no time. She sighed and reached out for a pillow to hold on to. Instead she found something harder, but warmer, she didn't want to know, so she just scrunched her eyes tighter and ignored that it wasn't part of her normal bed adornments. Whatever or whoever it was, was perfectly willing to lie still and sleep. Maybe she wasn't in her bed; where else could she have been though? She threw and arm over her bed mate and reached for a bit of the sheets, she rubbed them between her fingers. They were hers alright, Egyptian cotton. The only person who had more expensive sheets than she did would be Draco Malfoy, who possessed a set of silk sheets with a thread count somewhere in the millions. As excessive as they were they sounded great at the moment, that or a bath. The let out a small noise, an "mmmm" of anticipation for sneaking into the prefects bathroom tonight and relaxing in a large bath for a few hours.

The reverberations of her soft, angelic noises ran up and down his back. He remained entirely still, he was no one to interrupt her, and she was enjoying rest, for the first time in weeks, maybe longer. Snape had run into him in the hall, he commanded the young man to stay with her until she woke, and then he put her to bed and disappeared; that was about seven minutes ago, and now she was nudging herself close to him, sleepy and comfortable. He wanted to talk but he had no right, he had important things to tell her, he always did. She made him someone he hated, he was overly talkative, he was philosophical rather than reasonable, he was generous and kind, not strong and powerful. His father would change that when he went home for winter break, just as surely as he would cut off his tresses heartlessly. His father didn't care that she loved his hair, he didn't care that just fighting with her was enough to send him over the edge, he didn't care about anything at all concerning his son, or even his wife. All he cared about was how he looked to his superiors. His father's friends were the things of nightmares, and sure enough they haunted him in his sleep.

She was compelled to move again, it was too odd to think about the idea of sleeping next to someone you don't know. She rolled over onto her other side and pulled her legs up some, curling into herself. She was both startled and satisfied when the other person moved to her, they mirrored her body perfectly, tucking their knees just inside of hers, and placed a heavy arm around her waste. She liked this. Once again anonymity was attractive, not knowing. She lay still, drifting from thought to sleep. What if this was the anonymous boy, the one from Gryffindor, who knows how he would have gotten here, it didn't matter, and he was one for miracles and beautiful mishaps. She smiled at this thought mentally, before breaking out into a grin.

He loved the feel of her being so close to him, and so entirely empty of lust, or passion, or aggression, or anything else. She was just herself. Filling up her mind with lofty ideas about nothing at all, daydreaming and smiling to herself. This was how he always wanted to sleep, right next to her. He wanted her to unabashedly come with her hair tousled, waving and curling wildly; he loved it like that, no matter how much she tried to straiten it. He wanted her face free of anything but a smile and her glowing eyes. He couldn't see them now, but he knew, they had lost their cold grays and obsidian blacks, now they were warm and glowing, pale honeys colors with specs of brown. The thought of her in this raw and gentle form was enough to make him burry his face in her hair and inhale deeply. She smelled like nothing else in the world, she was spicy like cloves, sweet like spun sugar, neutral like vanilla, dark like pine, fresh like rain, exotic like flowers that didn't even exist, and most of all, he could smell just a bit of himself on her. What did he expect? She lived by his side, no, that was his father speaking, his arrogance, in reality he lived by her side. He would have it no other way, and it didn't matter how long he had to wait, it would always be worth it.

She should check the time. Classes were over at lunch today. So, she knew that she wouldn't be late for anything other than a meal. But if she missed it Draco would be upset, hell everyone would, and without fail Harry would give her one of his eerie compliments about how good she looked even though she was bone poking slender. She shuddered at the thought, he moved closer, arching his shoulders in to keep her warm.

He couldn't figure out for the life of him why anyone would keep a dorm this cold, and then he realized that it wasn't the room, just her bed, with the curtains drawn and the temperature in the low sixties. Of course she had changed it to suit her, everything one earth changed to make her happy. He too made his bed colder, just for the sake of using more blankets; they were more comfortable than the night air. All you had to do was move all the heaters in the dorm to the other end of the room and leave a window near you open. That and pick a bed on the end so that you didn't piss anyone off. He smiled into her hair and started to nod off.

She could feel the strangers breath steadying, but she could also feel her own eyelids becoming heavy. She struggled to remember what had happened before this, nothing. She had lost a lot of her memory in her life time, the concussion, several times when she was a younger girl she had drifted into naps and forgotten hours of events, but this year was especially bad. First was the night of the chess tournament, then the day that Draco came back, she had lost all memory from twenty minutes before she was taken to the hospital wing, and finally there was today, she remembered Harry, and walking into Lupin's class, and then nothing. Oh well, she thought, it doesn't matter at all anyway. She yawned conclusively, ending the train of though, and then she slept like a rock. She was dead asleep for hours and hours, it was coming into the tail end of dinner when she finally opened her eyes again.

The room was dark now and she woke up shivering. She rolled over, her bed mate was gone, but not far, their spot in the blankets was still warm. I must get up and see what time it is, she instructed herself. Her eyes opened slowly, as though they were stuck shut, she looked at her bedside table.

"Seven…damnit." Illy pulled her body from bed; yawning and stretching as she did so. If she hurried she could make it to dinner with just enough time to choke down some food and catch up with Harry, he was still unpredictable.

As she moved down the hall way at a brisk pace she did her best to straiten her skirt and smooth her shirt out. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun just before she rushed into the hall and took her seat across from Draco.

"So, where have you been all day?" He asked her drawly, "Snogging the knickers off Potter I assume." She ignored him, and instead of responding she just forked a potato off of his plate.

"But really Ill, where were you?" Christian smiled deviously. It looked like she would have just enough time left in dinner for everything to go exactly how she didn't want it.

"I was reading and I fell asleep, nothing special at all love." Illy winked at Christian.

"Is that so? Because I've heard quite a few rumors that say you've been doing more than reading with Potter."

"He wasn't even there, and besides where did you hear that from?"

"Oh, just around…is it true, have you really chosen another man to share your bed with?"

"Of course not, Harry smalls in comparison to you." Illy played along with the banter. She had decided that it was better to distract Christian from Jacky and Dolan, who were clearly involved in a very deep conversation at the moment.

"In more than just the ways of personality I presume." He goaded her into continuing the ridiculous flattery.

"Shut the hell up Christian, you know you don't have anything impressive in there." Draco began, suddenly in the mood for a pissing contest.

"Like you've got something more impressive?"

"Well, I am the prince of Slytherin am I not?"

"What does that have to do with anything? So you rule a rarely frequented dungeon, does that mean it's torturously small or something?"

"Our house isn't represented by a snake for no reason eejit." Draco's lips curved upward with the smile of victory, Illy on the other hand was about to be sick.

"I'm drowning in testosterone; I think I'd rather gag myself on my own vomit than continue sucking in all this bullshit."

"Irritable much?" Doan asked, as he chuckled at Illy's comment.

"No, just witty." She smiled and ate another potato from Draco's plate.

"And viciously so!" Jacky joined in the conversation.

"She's just experiencing a bit of penis envy." Christian told Draco with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you two have to be envious of, I'm the black one, well endowment is in my genes boys." Jacky smirked and crossed his arms. Illy could hear Dolan inhale sharply and force down a smile.

"He does have a point." Illy smirked and moved closer to Jackquinn so that she could run a hand over his abdomen.

"Now you two are making me sick!" Draco made a gagging motion to accompany his comment.

"What's really making me sick is your ability to eat with that fucking thing hanging on your arm." Dolan pointed at Pansy, who was currently trying to reach a hand down to Draco's pants, only to have her hand slapped away by Draco.

"Just let her toss you off already!" Christian jeered, "Or if you really want to hand her over, she can do me instead."

"I'm not an item, I belong to Drakie only!" Pansy squealed in her own defense.

"Yeah well my trash belongs to me, so you can have it do the job Christian; they have equivalent trade value right?" Illy asked, irritated suddenly by Pansy's actions.

"Or you could just do it yourself lovey." Christian offered.

"You're just jealous of me and my Drakie." Pansy's shrill voice attempted once again to defend her, where Draco clearly would not.

"The only person pathetic enough you be jealous of you is Matty you filthy bitch!" Illy was suddenly fiery with the girl.

"Drakie, don't let her call me those names!"

"This isn't my problem." Draco said with a smile. He closed his eyes in feigned bliss and put his hands behind his head as the two girls fought over him.

"I'm just hoping they'll end up tearing each other's clothes off and then making out!" Christian smiled, as he leaned back in his chair to watch the show just like Draco.

"How does my beating the brain out of this little whore conclude with our making out?" Illy asked incredulously, but still in good humor.

"That's it bitch, you're going to regret that!" Pansy stood up from her spot next to Draco.

"It's just what happens Illy, you really must learn the rules of these kinky lesbian fights sweetie." Christian winked at her.

"Sit down Pansy, before she pushes that pug nose of yours even farther up into your face and kills you." Draco finally interjected as he pulled Pansy back to his side.

"Even your man doesn't have faith in you Pansy." Illy smirked evilly. Draco loved her mood, she was relaxed again, feisty, even better than that though, she was jealous. He really had no choice but to fuel the fire that was set before him,

"Now Pansy, I think that we should retire to the room early, I believe that you started a job, and it's never good to leave things undone." Illy was about to scream when she realized what Draco was doing, he was tying his best to make her jealous. She could play that game just as well as he could, and she would, but first she needed to let him know that he wasn't winning. She smiled brightly as she spoke,

"Just make sure she washes up first, you never know what you could get." Illy finished her jest with a wink and a wave as Draco was drug from the room by Pansy.

"Well, now that the fun is over, I'm going to go talk to Clause." Jackquinn excused himself and headed towards his cheating, but still technical, boyfriend.

"I guess I should go see Harry then…" Illy sighed and took a last potato from Draco's plate. The mood at the table went from that of jovial harassment to ominous shudders.

"I don't understand why you two even talk, you don't like him. I think just about everyone but Draco and his friends can figure that out…for that matter, you only even talk to him because of his friends, who are nothing but a bunch of prissy Gryffindor's, 'cept maybe Fred and George, they're okay." Christian had suddenly become observant and nosy in the last few seconds apparently. "It's obvious that he's crazy about you in some creepy scar head way, but he doesn't exactly treat you great. We have to verbally wrestle the guy to get you away from him for ten seconds, and then he just glares and snatches you around by your wrist all the time."

"That's not true, we are friends. I don't dislike him at all, he's nice to me." She was clearly trying to convince herself more than anyone else. After a bit of huffing and puffing she rose from the table and went to go see her friends, but even though she tried to tell herself she did like Harry, she ended up sitting between the Weasley brothers Fred and Ron, with George next to Fred and Blaise and Harry across from them.

"Where's Hermione at tonight?"

"She's had her face buried in a book since lunch." Ron explained to Illy nonchalantly.

"I see…" Illy didn't get a chance to speak again before dinner was dismissed and she found herself being led out of the room by Harry's warm fingers, which intertwined with her own. In its own way it was sweet, the way he always wanted to hold her hand and keep her close. Besides, this was just what would teach Draco a good lesson, she thought to herself. Such motivations had a tendency to get her in trouble, but it didn't matter at the moment, all she could picture in her mind was Pansy on Draco's lap in her favorite chair, squealing out his name as she bounced up and down. She shuddered at the thought and gripped Harry's had tighter. He smiled back at her and winked.

"Are you going strait to bed?" Harry questioned innocently.

"I think I might get a shower in now and do a little homework so that I don't have to worry about it tomorrow."

"Right, for Hogsmead. About that, do you want to hang out with us? Me and Ron and Hermione I mean." Harry's cheeks were now rosy shades of pink under his glasses, as he quivered out the question. "I mean I'm still not sure if I can go, but I think that maybe I can reason with McGonagall." That would happen the day hell froze over, or maybe when Illy stopped hating her…

"Actually I promised Fred and George that I'd go see the joke shop with them, you know Zonko's. And then they want to go do a little snooping around. I think that I might try and introduce them to some firewhisky as well." Illy bubbled out the answer excitedly, she had been looking forward to the trip for a few weeks.

"Y-you drink firewhisky?"

"I'm a big girl Harry, I don't need permission or age allowances to tell me what I can and cannot drink."

"Well of course, but I mean, I just didn't expect it."

"It's not the strongest thing I've ever drank. Muggle cultures are all unique about things like that, and I've spent a lot of my time doing anthropology work with my parents, don't forget that."

"Right, well I guess if you want to head to your dorm I'll see you than." Harry perked up and gave Illy a hug. His hands stopped just above her butt, with his fingers resting lightly a bit farther down that Illy might have preferred, but she ignored his behavior and headed back to the dorms in a hurry. She was hoping to make enough of scene to ensure that Draco kept the fuck away from her chair with that stupid whore.


	24. 23 Let's finalize our lies

AN: This is a really short chapter, but it's important in its own way

AN: This is a really short chapter, but it's important in its own way. Also, the Mature rating is in full play so that was your warning. I also realized that I haven't put any disclaimers in here, so I'll put one in now: J.K. owns everything except my character, if you need a list of them just ask. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 23

(AN: R&R DAMNIT!!)

But when Killious walked into the common room she was relieved and horrified in the same breath to find that neither Draco nor Pansy was present at the moment. She inhaled slowly to calm herself. It really was none of her business. Who cared anyway? Certainly not her, he was her friend. She didn't own any part of him, except that small space in his unbelievably miniscule heart. That made her calm down more than experimental breathing. He didn't care about her in the least, or at least not romantically, he was and always would be, the same ice cold boy that she met her first day at this school. All the tension in her bones was falling away as she pulled books and parchment out of her bag and prepared to finish some homework. This was healthier; it was what she wanted, friends. And friends were permitted to date other people, kiss other people, and fuck other people. It didn't matter. With this state of mind impressed firmly into her brain, Killious Quintessence Enquirous finished her homework, went to bed, and began telling herself a most self-destructive and miserable lie that she would continue to tell herself for far too long.

Draco watched Pansy shed her clothing in seconds. She'd done this with him far too many times; actually, she'd just done this far too many times in general. It wasn't exactly hard for him to overlook all the other boys she slept with, he didn't care, so ignorance was bliss. Or at least ignorance was momentary sexual pleasure…with lots and lots of protection. His eyes were glazed over as she unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled his pants and socks off. She was trying to be seductive in her hot pink bra and panty set, or at least that's what he guessed she was trying to be, he couldn't tell because he couldn't even begin to think of her as seductive, or sultry, or any other words for giving him a hard on that started with an "s".

She was ready to start now. He needed to come out of his day dreamy state of mind. She gave him a most disturbing smile, as if she was about to eat him in some sick act of cannibalism, just before she kissed him. It was slick, cold, and far from heartfelt, but he couldn't be fussy, he'd been spoiled by his "best friend" back when best friends could kiss. This was for her in reality. That seemed pig headed and stupid, it seemed like some sort of twisted logic, and it was, but he knew it would work. She might be mad for a little while, but Illy was a master of burying her pain, so within a day or two she would pretend like they never gave two shits about each other. He could live like that; he could lie to himself just as well as she could. He would pretend it was enough until the day that he couldn't take it any more, and then it would come pouring out like an avalanche and she would love him for it or hate him…in that moment she would bring him to life or kill him with her words. That was fine. He would have a few years by her side.

Pansy giggled shrilly as she wrapped her fingers around his bare member. He had been a master of lying all his life really. He lied to everyone about everything. He lied to the entire world about his likes and dislikes, he lied about his moral views, he lied about his feelings, he lied about his entire personality, and he lied even more about his fear and his hatred. He could feel himself getting hard, but that was a physical response to a physical touch, his mind was a million miles away. His father and his mother would probably die, not knowing a damned thing about him. That was sad in a way. He did love his mother, or at least he loved her as much as he'd ever loved someone paternally. She was trying way too hard to make this work, a smarter, less obsessed girl would have realized he wasn't even really there and just walked away, but Pansy was Pansy. And Pansy would do what she had to.

She started to climb on top of him. He may have been distant but he wasn't a total moron. He pushed her back and pulled his wand out; he cast four or five protection spells and put on a condom. There was no reason to risk multiple communicable diseases or sexually transmitted curses. Pansy seemed discouraged by his excessive behavior, but not defeated. She smiled smugly as she pushed aside her panties and slid herself slowly down his shaft. He was back to his stoicism by now. Illy would be his friend now, nothing more or less. They would see other people, they would touch other people, and they would love other people. Or at least, she would. Draco Malfoy didn't love anyone, it was another one of those lies that beautifully diseased his life. But this one was true to a degree, he really didn't love anyone before this, and for all he knew this could have been a stupid crush that his head had blown out of proportion. Yes, that was it. He never really cared to begin with. Pansy was panting, bouncing up and down on top of him. She was a horrible lover, she was happy to do everything herself. Maybe she wasn't that bad, he just wasn't interested. She might have been a good screw if he actually participated.

She pulled his hand to her right breast and forced it to squeeze, resulting in a series of noises that sounded more painful than erotic. She was moving as fast and hard as she could on her own, if this lie was going to work he would have to participate. He stopped her motion by holding on to her hips. She looked puzzled and disappointed, but he lifted her off of him and rolled her beneath him. Now she was just pleased. She spread her legs to accommodate him. He was supporting his own weight with both arms on either side of her head. He thrust once, her hips rushed to meet his. This didn't feel right, none of it, not the lying, not the sex, nothing. He could feel his stomach knotting as he began the rhythmic motion. Pansy's noises were horrible, she screamed about things entirely too much. He knew she wasn't like this with other lovers, with them she was demanding, she made them do her right. He was the only one that was lied to over and over again…or maybe he was just that good. This made him smirk a little. He sped up now, getting into the mood of the action more. Pansy was moaning beneath him. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow and dropping down to her small breasts. He took hold of one. It was one of those things she loved. He narrowed his eyes on her; she was contracting around him, squirming in pleasure. He finished with a final, hard thrust into her. She screamed his name. The whole dorm would hear something that loud. He smiled and fell back onto his pillows. That wasn't terrible.

It had never been bad before this. Illy was ruining everything in his life. He used to be able to enjoy meaningless sex with girls he didn't care about in the least. Now he had to work at it. He started to close his eyes to fall asleep, but Pansy was far from done. Her mouth was around him in a matter of seconds; her head was bobbing up and down. He remembered now, whenever he ignored her for a while she went crazy. She'd be waking him up all night with pointless, half awake, sex. Draco just sighed and closed his eyes, he could do this. He had to. And with that final thought Draco Malfoy let a tear or two slide down his cheek, he couldn't lie as well as Killious could, but he would certainly hurt himself just as much trying. From now on, she was his friend, and any sex they had would be pointless.


	25. 24 Heart won't betray what the head can

AN: I would now like to declare that Classysam is fantastic to realms you've ever dreamt of

AN: I would now like to declare that Classysam is fantastic to realms you've ever dreamt of! Sam has been so good to me and I want everyone to know that if it wasn't for her encouraging critiquing of my work and her enthusiasm about this story none of you would get to read the following chapter. Sam you're the best ever, and these next several chapters are all for you! (So be great fans like her and R&R) –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 24

_Sir came in softly this time. He was quiet and slow as he made his way to where she lay. He probably imagined that she wasn't even awake. But house elves were silent in comparison to his light feet. He shuffled across the floor, holding his breath to discourage his olfactory from taking in the smells around him. He usually didn't notice it, but then again neither did she. She had spent more than a year here, why would she continue to smell the stench of piss and open wounds. Why would month old animal sex and sweat even register at this point? He ran out of air, the smell almost made him sick to his stomach, she could hear him gag. He was standing above her now. It was like he was waiting for something. _

_Now she remembered. He had told her last time that she would have to ask for him to violate her. When she sat up it startled him, she could here him gasp, but she didn't want to open her eyes for this. "Please Sir, I want it." The words were worse than any pain he could physically inflict. But his response wasn't what she had expected, instead of gruff laughter she heard him let out a soft, boyish sob. She opened her eyes. It wasn't Sir, instead before her stood Sir's son. She could see him, blonde and pale, just like his father. But he was softer, maybe that was just the tears speaking though. In this light she knew that he couldn't make out anything other than a silhouette of her shape. He reached out a hand, it skimmed her shoulder, down her arm, warmer than anything she'd felt in months. She was totally still as his porcelain fingertips moved along her lower arm, but she flinched away from his grip when he touched her hand. _

_He tried again for her grubby fingers, slower now, and tenderer. His hands were soft like feathers against her filthy, calloused palms. She took in a deep breath as he rubbed his thumb and forefinger over her hands gently, exploring the scrapes and bony phalanges. "I'll help you…" He whispered to her in the dark. She cried, softly and silently. Tears poured down from her eyes, dripping off her chin delicately. "…I promise I will." He had released her hand now, he was taking off his coat. He draped it gently over her shoulders. It was lined with wool, warm delicious wool. She melted into its vast warmth in seconds, pushing her arms through the sleeves. It didn't matter to her if it got dirty, for all she knew he'd be taking it back in just a moment. "I have to go…I'll be back though." His soft childish voice was rushed. He must have known that his father would be coming down soon. He rose to his feet from his crouched position, he scampered to the door quickly but just before he opened it he turned around again, "What is your name?" He asked her. "I don't even know anymore." The words just came out of her. She didn't think about them, she just knew that she had no answer for his question. He left without saying another word. _

Illy groaned with the morning, of course she would be lucky enough to dream about Draco as a night in shining armor the day after she decided he was an arrogant twat. She pushed the layers of blankets she kept on her bed to her knees and headed out for her morning run.

Three hours later she walked through the doors of the great hall and smiled to Draco mischievously as she took a seat next to him.

"So, I heard that you and Pansy had a good time last night." If she was going to be his friend she would need to get over all queasiness associated with Draco's love life involving other women.

"Who told you that?" He asked as he pushed a small bowl of porridge topped with a lump of brown sugar toward her.

"Thanks," She began stirring the hot bowl with anticipation. "And I don't think that anyone needed to tell me. The whole fucking dungeon heard her. So either you got lucky or she masturbates louder than anyone on earth."

"Fair enough." Draco shrugged with an arrogant smile.

"So are you together now?" She blew on her spoonful of porridge before eating it with scrutinizing attention to detail in flavor. Porridge was a food of all foods for Killious. It required no chewing, filled quickly, was served warm, and she could put almost anything into it for flavoring.

"No…why would I bother to date her when I get the benefits without any work?"

"I guess I just assumed, but whatever, if she's that loose than she deserves it."

"You forget that bedding Draco Malfoy is a gift from the gods, I blessed her enough with my presence, why over do it?"

"Apparently you blessed her with more than just your presence."

"Like I said a gift from the gods."

"Wow, you are one arrogant son of bitch you man whore." They both laughed lightly before returning their focus to their food.

"Is anyone going to explain what the fuck is going on?" Jackquinn finally blurted the question on everyone's tongue. It was not until that moment that Draco and Killious even noticed how silent the table had become from the moment that she sat down.

"Last night you were about to rip Pansy's voice box from her throat out of pure jealousy and now you're laughing about Draco's sexcapades?" Dolan finished Jacky's thought for him before he could.

"I feel like I've just entered a paradoxical universe." Jackquinn commented as he shook his head.

"Fuck their behavior; does anyone else see what she's wearing?" Christian managed to gather his jaw from the table just in time to put in his two cents. But he did manage to distract the entire table from the matter at hand to look at Killious' choice of clothing. She sighed as the boys tried their best to see over the table, and ended up standing and doing a slow motion spin around to move things in their discussion forward. Her ribbed, bodiced, black and white stripped, top had a minimalist corset lace in the back and a trim of black lace across its strapless top. Her crystal ball necklace was around her wrist and had been replaced by a black ribbon with two ruby cherries dangling from it. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and rather than straitening it she had gone the other extreme and put it into elongated ringlet curls of ebony. She started to sit back down,

"Turn around one more time Illy, you just made my day." Christian winked at her as she turned around again to give a view of her backside, which was nicely accentuated by her skintight black skinny jeans. She smirked at Jacky who was currently mesmerized by her cherry red heels and took her seat again.

"Are we all set gentleman?"

"You may not have boobs but damn, all those salads go straight to your ass." Christian said with a pleased smile on his lips.

"Shut the fuck up." She reeled.

"He is right, what are you like an A cup?" Draco asked dryly.

"No!…I'm a B…a 28 B." Illy looked down at her food, suddenly uninterested in eating.

"Don't get all depressed and go entirely anorexic on us! You won't even have an ass then!" Dolan pushed her bowl towards her. She smiled and took a bite of the food.

"Aren't you going to be with Fred and George today?" Jackquinn asked.

"Yeah, why do you want to come and spend some time with Fred?" She called back his previous assertion about a certain red head with vindication.

"No, actually I was just thinking, how are you going to keep up with them in a ribbed bodice and a pair of pumps?"

"Fag." Christian immediately began chiding and pointed childishly at Jackquinn, who ignored him completely.

"Even I could have told you that it was a ribbed bodice and pumps you moron. And I think that Pansy informed us all that I'm not a fag!" Draco defended.

"Shit…damn it you ruined a perfectly good outfit." Illy pouted at Jackquinn.

"Yeah, you ruined a perfect outfit Jacky." Christian whined. "Can I help you pick out a new one? I can even help you put it on!"

"Keep it in your pants Christian." Dolan rolled his eyes at Christian.

"You don't need a bra for that outfit, do you?" Christian asked, now transfixed by the small amount of cleavage that peaked over the top of the lace.

"For Merlin sake, get fucked already." Draco complained.

"Of course you don't need a bra, we went over this, ribbed bodice, there's fucking pieces of wire in that thing along with a corset, you couldn't fit a bra in that!" Jacky burst out.

"Besides, you just heard her cup size didn't you?" Draco spoke under his breath.

"Not quiet enough asshole." Illy slapped the back of Draco's head.

"I'll be getting you back for that."

"What are you going to get your daddy to have me executed too?"

"Bitch."

"Whore."

"I hope you know you're the devil."

"I'm going to go change." Illy left the table, getting cat calls and whistles all the way down the rows of the hall.

"Good job not flirting Draco, she's got to be convinced that you don't want to make her squeal like Pansy now." Dolan said flatly.

"Shut your trap ponce." Draco took a bite of his toast and sighed.

"Why'd you change, we were hoping that we could put you on a corner and pay for lunch!" George teased playfully. Illy had locked arms with each twin, and was maintaining normal balance, now that she was in high top converse.

"At least before your shirt didn't have obscure folk bands on it." Fred growled.

"Listen bitch, I will hit you." Illy giggled. "Besides, I like my shirt." She looked down at the long-sleeved black shirt with a fiddler's green logo on it and smiled. "And just so you know, they're not folk dumbass."

"Fine, the fact remains that now we have to pay for lunch on our own." George smirked as he held open the door to Zonko's. Illy stepped inside and immediately rushed to the front counter.

"Maury!" She gushed at the middle-aged man who stood behind the counter. He smiled back at her and walked around to give her a hug.

"I haven't seen you since summer? What happened to you? I still need you for work."

"I'm going to Hogwarts now."

"Oh, parents finally let you go?"

"Yeah, I assume you know Fred and George already. They probably spend more money in here than most people spend on groceries."

"Of course, they hope to be my biggest competition one day."

"I'm helping them with that of course."

"I heard about Filch's office the other day; tell me that was you three."

"Of course it was! Well, mostly it was them. I just made sure that they didn't drain the entire black lake into the school."

"Good, I'd hate to see how the grindylow's dealt with that…Hey put those down! You can't test them in the store! Look it was great seeing you again, but I've got to go, I'll see you around." Maury gave Illy a last hug and rushed to where some younger students where about to set off a stink bomb.

"You're really killing us Illy." George began,

"If you hadn't changed he might have just paid off our bill in here too!" Fred finished.

"You both mistreat me horribly."

"I never mistreat you Killious, ever." Fred said, entirely serious, but with the same jovial air as before.

"Okay, so remember, we only have enough for a few cheap things. We really shouldn't buy anything, it's just that Maury doesn't like us to use his place for free inspiration." George informed Illy.

"If you're looking for something good, he keeps a lot of unauthorized stuff in the back room." Illy informed the twins with a nod towards a closed door in the back of the shop. It took each of them a moment to pick the word "unauthorized" out of that sentence. It was key, seeing as very little was unauthorized in the joke world.

"We'll go look, you stay and keep guard." Fred instructed George who considered putting up a fight but decided against it, before he pushed Illy in the direction of the door. She made her way to the back of the shop quickly. She had been there in crowds larger than this. She whispered a password to the door's keyhole and turned the brass knob, after a quick glance in Maury's direction. She opened the door just wide enough for Fred and herself to pass through the opening if they turned sideways. Her estimations were somewhat skewed however by her own slender figure, and it took a widening of several inches to allow Fred to pass through the door. His eyes sparkled in sight of the boxes and shelved of black market prank items. Things like this were clearly imported, and very dangerous.

Illy let Fred take in the sight for a few moments, it was overwhelming for him. The metal racks were carelessly stacked with containers of enchanted exploding matches that could blow a hand off, dummy portkeys that transported their user to the exact opposite side of the earth from their current location, boa constrictor blankets which proceeded to eat and slowly crush their victim to death, and even such a ruthless and rare item as one copy of "death by laughter: a book on comical murder" by Comicolus Crypt.

"Look at this!" He said pointing to the book. He was smart enough not to touch it without having the key to its lock on hand, as the first comical murder in the book was carried out by handing someone the book without giving them the key, resulting in a kind of splinching, in which someone's insides flipped out, creating a rather messy and rather dead pile of organs and bones.

"We're here for observation only, and you have five minutes."

"You're putting me on a time limit?"

"I'm friends with Maury, I feel bad enough about this as it is."

"How could any person feel bad in a place like this?" Fred gushed, as he moved back to where she stood. He picked her up by her waste and spun her around twice, totally invigorated by his surroundings.

For the next five minutes the two of them scribbled information down about every object that could produce a useful idea. When their time had run out, the two exited the room with electric excitement. They didn't even stop to look around the rest of the shop as they grabbed George's arm and headed for a restaurant down one of the back streets of the little town. Fred seemed to be the only one who knew where on earth they were going however and in his giddy mood it left his brother and friend practically running to keep up.

"Fred, you've got to slow down, we're not even in a shopping district anymore!"

"Then walk faster." His voice wasn't really irritated, just elated.

"Fred I take in somewhere around a maximum of one thousand calories a day. You and your fine burning brick house of a brother more than triple that. I'm going to faint." Illy did hate to come to terms with the limitations that her eating habit imposed, but when they were also useful it didn't bother her as much.

"Was that a red head joke? 'Burning brick house'? You're really off your game today love. And you're not even lying that well. You're the only female chaser, let alone player, on the Slytherin house quidditch team, you have a full blocked class schedule, which you excel in, and you still have the energy to pull pranks with us, put up with Harry, and fight with Draco all the time. You're fine."

"But…you're going to fast." She was at a loss for words. He knew her better than she thought, but he still stopped to look at her, frustrated as she was, and chose mercy.

"George, we're going to Magda's" George nodded and kept walking towards the restaurant, if that's even what it was.

Fred rolled his eyes and scooped Illy up easily, tucking one arm underneath her knees, and using the other to support her back. He smiled at her to assure her that he wasn't upset at all, and was really just excited to begin comparing ideas.

"You really are such a baby some times." He tickled her side with the hand he had placed around her back, producing a small giggle.

"You said yourself I put up with quite a bit. I'm just out of it today…last night was a mess."

"More with Harry and Draco I suppose? Those two really do cause you too many problems, you need to just leave them be. They may kill each other, but at least then you'll only have to deal with one of them at a time."

"I can guess which one would kick the bucket."

"Really, I'd love to see whose side Killious takes in the end."

"It's not a matter of sides, just personalities. Harry is a lot more violent than he lets on. Draco is just emulating his father, no matter how much he hates him."

"See what I mean, you can't even spend time with me and stop talking about those two."

"Fred if I could I would." Illy wrapped her arms around Fred's neck and leaned into his chest.

"Some day someone will come along and help you out with this whole mess…" Illy nodded into Fred's chest, agreeing with the hope of someone else solving her problems. "…Sadly the fairy god mother is out of town solving world hunger." Illy slapped Fred's chest jovially.

"You ruined a perfectly good moment."

"I'd do my best to bring it back, but we're here." Fred set Illy evenly onto the ground and led the way into a tall and shaky looking building. Each of its levels appeared to be put on as a separate home that was then fused, slightly off center, to the others and painted in shades of white that didn't quite match.

"What exactly is Magda's?" She asked as he led her up the stairs of the buildings first floor. Like everything else in the wizarding world, the inside of the building was entirely deceitful regarding the buildings outer looks. The interior of the pieced together town home was actually much more like something from a New York City or Parisian penthouse than a shamble of old home scraps. Illy and Fred reached the fifth floor of the building and took the exit off the spiral stair case to their right. Fred's eyes went back and forth down the hall, taking glances at the numbers that progressed with evens on the left and odds on the right. He stopped at the sixth door, in the narrow hall and knocked on the door.

George greeted the two and ushered them into an all green living room with preposterous decorum. The plush green couches were two shades darker than the pea green carpet, and worlds darker than the opaque walls that looked like key-lime pie. The room only seemed to get odder upon further scrutiny as the curtains were yet another shade of green, that didn't seem to quite gather within a palette of any of the other greens, let alone the almost yellow coffee table or the forest green book shelves. The oddest detail of the room however was not the greens, but was instead the surfeit of odd caged birds about the room. Illy had seen the birds once before in Peru. They were a rare breed that was around the size of a blue-jay but had a tail any where from nine inches to two and a half feet in length, comprised entirely of feathers identical to those of the peacock.

As Illy took a discomforted seat on the overly plush love seat Fred and George made themselves at home. George's shoes were already in the middle of the room and he was lying across a large couch flicking bits of cracker to nearby birds. Fred began to take off his shoes and lay down on the love seat, letting his legs rest across Illy's lap and over the arm of the small couch comfortably. Illy just sat still on the couch with Fred, she was very confused, and very uncomfortable with the foreign situation in which she had been placed. Fred and George exchanged grins and remained silent, leaving the room void of noise other than those of the birds and some clamor from behind the door to across from the entry.

Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a woman just as strange as the room itself, though strange in an entirely different way. The woman was normal height and looked to be in her early twenties, with a small nose and even smaller lips. Her brown eyes were surrounded by thick black liner that matched all of her clothing which consisted of blackish skinny jeans that seemed so hopelessly stuck to her frame that no one could aspire to remove them off without scissors. Her shirt was a simple black tank top that ended several inches before it even hit her belly button. She tucked what short black hair was down behind her ear to reveal nine or ten piercings, the lowest of which was gauged. She flashed a smile at Fred and George, calling Illy's attention to her lip, nose, and two eye brow piercing, in the left brow only.

"Nice pigtails." Fred complimented her.

"Thanks, who's your friend?" She asked, looking at Illy for the first time. Illy did her best to produce a small smile, she was a little shocked at first to hear Magda's sharp accent.

"My name's Killious, you must be Magda."

"At'd be me, I like your shirt…actually I fink I have 'ose jeans too, and get your fucking shoes off!" She was suddenly wide eyed looking down at Illy's shoed feet.

"Um, okay." Illy pulled the sneakers off and tossed them in the direction of Fred and George's.

"Forgive her, she's a wretched bitch to strangers who has a thing about shoes on her terribly ugly carpet." George explained, as though it was nothing. Magda moved towards Illy and stretched out a heavily bracelet adorned hand.

"Magda as we already said. I's a sevenf year when ese two bums came crashing into Hogwarts and I'll take credit for everythin they ever did." Illy shook Magda's hand after a moment of getting over the girls odd behavior. "The place obviously isn't mine and me aunt is very protective of her carpet, though she seems t'have gotten losts somewhere in the Carpathians again. Going on six monfs now actually."

"What they hell does she do there?" Fred asked, making it clear he really didn't care.

"Oh who fucking knows? Alright, so I jus' catered a big weddin' an I have leftovers in the kitchen, you're friend better be able to put down a lot of food or I might have to shoot myself. I have more dessert 'an I know what to do wif." Killious followed Fred and George into the room from which Magda had come, which turned out to be the kitchen. This room was far less obnoxious in design and while in place of a refrigerator it just had a massive ice box equipped with some useful cooling charms, it was relatively normal, and much larger than the living room.

"I live wif me batty aunt and take care of her place while she's off pissing around in the fucking mountains like a loon, so she lets me run my caterin' service 'ere."

"Not exactly a common magical career." Illy said, taking in the view of Fred and George shoveling down a tray of finger sandwiches.

"It's jus' not what they broadcast at Hogwarts. People still have t'run taverns and fix houses, we jus' get magic to 'elp. Or hurt, I'm not sure it really does more than land me en more shitty business 'an I can handle at once. Jus' because you can apparate you're s'pposed to be able to serve dinner to three separate parties of rich douches. Sucks a wanker if ya ask me." Magda opened the icebox and pulled out three more trays of food, each of these was spread with bon-bon's, truffles, molded chocolates and dipped fruit, which were followed by two more trays of miniature cakes and dessert bars.

"So, wus got you mixed up wif ese two?" She asked in between popping bon-bon's, Illy was feeling more and more out of place by the second, watching all three of the other people in the house eating.

"Oh, we go together…to school I mean."

"You're a Gryffindor too I s'pose. Here, try one of ese." Magda passed Illy a desert bar that looked like it had a crust of chocolate coconut, followed by some sugary filling, and topped with a layer of chocolate gnouche. Illy cringed, but took the bar.

"No, Slytherin actually."

"You've brought a snake into me midst boys," The twins ignored her and moved from sandwiches to desserts.

"I guess that means I'm in a house full of Gryffindor's."

"Yah certainly are, I'da flunked out a Ravenclaw, and gods know I don work 'ard enough to be a Hufflepuff…" She stopped there, clearly about so say something anti-slytherin, but deciding against it.

"Go ahead, clearly I don't struggle with house spirit issues." Illy said as she pointed at Fred and George who smiled up at her.

"I's jus gonna say that they's too mean for me."

"It's the truth, we're a mean breed. But Gryffindor's aren't all nice either, so I'm fine where I am."

"There's a battle between men going on right now. Harry Potter's a Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy is a Slytherin. The two of them get into quite a few scraps over her, even though half the time all they do is exhaust and frustrate her." Fred explained.

"The whole situation with Harry is pointless because everyone knows that Draco and I are just friends, Harry just enjoys instigating problems for whatever reason. In my opinion he's the one who's mean."

"You'll match, you don't eat or sleep and he'll be a serial killer." George chided.

"I do too eat! And the sleep thing is not my fault. Besides, I'm in perfect health I run every morning, I do quidditch, and I manage to put up with you."

"All on a meager diet of less than one thousand calories, as you informed me just a few minutes ago. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that if you burn more calories than you eat you continue to shrink until what? You die or something right?" Fred had now stopped eating and was advancing on Illy.

"Of malnutrition I believe it's called." George answered back to him.

"It wasn't enough to force feed me for a week was it?" Illy took a bite of the dessert in her hand smugly, just before Fred reached her. "It's good, have a bit." She pushed the dessert into his face, covering his eyes and nose in chocolate. George and Magda took an instinctive step back from the two, laughing, but preferring to stay out of the line of fire.

Fred reached behind him blindly; feeling for something to throw in Illy's direction, George smiled and placed a miniature strawberry cake in his hand. Seconds later Killious' face matched Fred's and the two had begun to hurl cake and chocolate ferociously. Magda and George ducked out of the kitchen in hysterics, opting not to be smothered head to toe in sugar and fruit. When the fight was over the walls and floor were coated in a layer of wedding leftovers and no tray had solid food on it, though they were used as shields at several points. Fred whipped the food out of his eyes and helped Illy do the same.

"You look delicious." He said, wrapping his hands around her waste. Illy's thoughts immediately went to Draco, Harry, and the boy from Gryffindor whose name she had never gotten. Adding Fred to the mix was more than she needed at the moment.

"We need a picture." She suddenly declared before pulling her purse from its hiding place behind the stove. She removed the camera and stood next to Fred, pressing their cheeks together, resulting in even more spread of gooey mess. "Sopping wet squid." The camera flashed.

"Lets go get cleaned up, I think my hair is beginning to dry like this." He pointed to his red hair that could just barely be seen beneath all the food, but was none the less a visible disaster. Illy followed Fred to the bathroom and waited as he turned on the shower.

"Do you mind just hoping in with me?" Illy's eyes widened slightly at the frankness of the question. Fred saw her reaction and immediately began waving hands and say 'no, no, no' repeatedly.

"I meant do you mind if we both get in with clothes on. We're going to need to get this stuff off them some how, I have other clothes here and you'll probably fit something of Magda's."

"Now that I know you don't plan on taking advantage of me in a stranger's house I guess the situation seems much more appropriate."

"Because if you're uncomfortable, just go first and-"

"Just get in." She pushed him through the shower curtain and into the warm water. Illy followed directly behind Fred and stole the majority of the available water spray, as she was not nearly as shy as Fred was being at the moment. He had managed to hide himself in the back of the shower to the best of his ability as Illy tried to rinse out her long hair.

"I'm gonna take these off okay? They're getting heavy in the water." Illy explained as she pulled off her jeans and shirt and dropped them to the floor of the shower with a wet squish. Fred was now frozen in place as his eyes wandered over her.

"Relax Fred its boy shorts and tank top, this is more than I wear swimming."

"We should have you over to the burrow some time then, great pond for swimming." Fred smiled, happy with himself for regaining his confidence suddenly. He pulled his own jeans and shirt of and piled them with Illy's on the floor. Illy did a double take at the sight of his chest, not because of its well toned shape, but more because it seemed somehow familiar. She switched places with Fred to let him rinse out his hair but couldn't stop staring. She had never noticed his muscles before in school clothes and they look all too recognizable.

"This is going to sound weird but…can I touch your abs?"

"Wha?...I mean I guess…sure why?" But Illy didn't answer him, she just reached out a hand and ran it across Fred's stomach. He didn't really have abs, not like Draco or a few of the boys on her quidditch team at least, these were less protrusive; they were really more like the start of muscles. She could tell he didn't work out beyond quidditch, his arms were banded with thick muscles that were helpful with the bludgers, but the rest of his body seemed just as softly toned as his stomach. Illy's fingers were light, she was more focused on trying to remember where she knew this feeling from than she was interested in rubbing her hands all over a close friends stomach in the shower.

Fred on the other hand was having problems, his head was buzzing like a mad man. Killious had her eyes tightly closed, he could tell she was deeply contemplating something but he could hardly begin to think about what as her thin fingers danced across his stomach and up to his chest. He was trying to just be still even though his brain was doing its best to tell him to tighten up his muscles, or reach out to her. Finally she opened her eyes and smiled.

"Can't figure it out, oh well. Let me help you with that hair." She reached up to his head on her tip toes and began trying to comb food out of it.

"What was it you were trying to figure out?" He asked nonchalantly, eyes squeezed shut to avoid getting food in them.

"You just looked familiar is all. But I can't figure out what from."

"We must have been filthy lovers in another life, wreaking havoc on the whole world."

"I'm sure, and George was our dog." Fred laughed and tilted his head back to let he rest of the food rinse out.

"What does that make all of the rest of the men in your life? Pesky owls." Fred turned around and took a step towards Illy to remove a glob of food from her face.

"Vicious, perplexing, irritating owls." Fred moved his hand from her face to the back of her neck.

"I probably bought a gun to get rid of them." He moved his face within one inch of hers. Illy froze, she knew what was coming and she had to find a way out of it. She was already drowning in problems, Fred was supposed to be an escape from that, he made her laugh about nothing and distracted her from Harry and Draco. He moved closer still, she could feel his breath on her lips…

"I can't." She started to get out of the shower but he stopped her.

"I understand Ill, I'll get out, you finish. I can go grab some of Magda's clothes for you." She nodded and finished washing dessert off of her body. Fred shut the door with a light click and whispered to himself, 'don't do what Draco does to her, she need friends not lovers dumb ass' before he walked down the hall towards Magda's room.

"Mag, I need a change of clothes for Illy." He knocked twice before opening the door.

"Closets tha' way." She stuck a thumb towards the back wall, refusing to take her eyes off the screen in front of her.

"I don't get how you manage to buy all this muggle crap." Fred made small talk as he riffled through the closet for a pair of jeans and a shirt. Magda had been collecting muggle objects for years, she was better at it than Fred and George's father, but the hobby was still peculiar. Her room was full of electronics, cd's, games, and other pointless things for wizards.

"Me an me aunts the only magic types in the famy, you forget tha?"

"No, it just still surprises me every time I come in here." He shrugged lightly and continued his search. He and George had immediately been drawn to Magda the second they saw her. Each of them had taken turns trying his damnest to win her but their efforts had been to no avail and in the end they both gave it up. When she graduated from Hogwarts and moved in with her aunt they had made a general practice of coming to see her on a regular basis. Over the last two years Fred and George had even gotten half decent at the silly electronic games she played all the time.

"Bitch! You just ripped my spine out!" George began shouting at Magda. Fred finally gathered a pair of jeans that he decided would fit, which wasn't hard because she was just as small, if not smaller that Magda, and a t-shirt that she wouldn't mind wearing.

"S'ok if I take these?" He showed Magda the clothes briefly.

"Yeah…but why're you in skivs?" She asked, pointing towards the boxers that she just seemed to notice. George's face lit up.

"Man, if you really did what I think you did I applaud and shun you at the same time!"

"Jus' wash anyfing off me showers walls I dun wanna find la'er." Mag chuckled and continued that game that she and George were playing from the bed.

"It's nothing like that, we just rinsed off because we were covered in food. Both of us have clothes on…well sort of, we're both in knickers really, but you get the idea."

"Yeah, I _do_ get an idea." Said George with a wink.

"It's not like that George…"

"But ya wish it wus."

"I need to go get some clothes for myself as well."

"They's in your room. Speakin' a which, when's you two goin' move in?"

"Probably going to spend most of the summer here, but we've got world cup tickets so we'll be there in plenty of time for that."

"S'fine wif me."

Fred left the room and dropped clothing off with Illy, who felt even more awkward now than she did before. She slipped into the jeans which turned out to fit perfectly because they were just a bit big on Magda, who while she was probably not quite as thin as Illy, had no arse to be found. When she had changed she headed to Magda's room, eventually finding by following the shouts of George and Fred who were now both engaged in a game.

"I think I'm going to go meet up with Dolan and Christian if you don't mind…" She rubbed her wrist behind her back absent mindedly.

"Fine by us." The twins said in unison.

"I'll show y'out." Magda got up from her spot on the bed and walked Illy to the front door.

"Dun think too much about Fred. He's jus a sporadic guy, di'n mean nufing."

"I know, I just can't add even something like nothing to my list of things to think about right now. It's sad that at the beginning of the year I'd've probably never objected, but…Harry's just…he scares me some times." Illy's eyes were pleading for the near stranger to save her from a boy Magda didn't even know.

"Boys'll corner ya like 'at"

"So don't tell Fred or George but that's mostly the reason. I can't even talk to Draco when he's around."

"Be careful, and Kily'us"

"Yeah Magda,"

"Dun hurt me boys, I love 'em more 'an they know."

"I can tell." Illy closed the door behind her and headed toward the main road again. It didn't take long to find Dolan and Christian, they were ogling a new accessory kit for brooms in the window of a newer, rather large store. Illy spent the rest of her day with the two, which was only and hour or so more, but it served as a long enough time barrier for Fred to get his head on strait, as he was back to his normal self by dinner


	26. 25 Wrap me up in mischeif

AN: For Sam again

AN: For Sam again. Looking back on these chapters (25-27) I'm realizing what a long day this must have been for Killious…three chapters of emotional flux's and ever changing dynamic relationships. I'm not sure I could endure that…-Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 26

Illy walked silently the rest of the way back to the dormitories with Draco. They were both holding out for the other person to explain what had just transpired between the three involved parties.

"A thank you will do." Draco finally said with a mocking sneer, breaking the silence.

"Thank you for what? He's going to be twice as bad later! Damn it Draco he had put me down, I just had to catch my breath. It was done with and over! Now he's going to kill me! You embarrassed him…that can't happen"

"Do you seek out these fucked up relationships or do they come to you?"

"Don't act so self righteous! You made the same mistake last year as I recall. But he's not that bad to me…or at least he wasn't but this is crazy…" Tears were starting to trickle down her cheeks. He felt like they were leaking from the tip of her chin right down into his heart where they fizzed and burned like acid.

"Illy, he had his hands around your throat. He was going to choke you to death over something you weren't even responsible for." He picked her up from where she stood ridged just inside the door of the common room and sat her down on his lap in his favorite chair. Consequently it was her favorite as well, which means that he usually yielded it to her. It was better to sit across the room and imagine the things they did while she was in that chair than it was to have to deal with her unhappy looks.

She refused look him in the eye, something that he found deeply disturbing, though he half expected it. She was having a hell of a time at it though; the temptation to glance away from the uneventful wall and look at him was frustrating. But he would need to give her some kind of apology.

"We have some other things we need to talk about." Close enough. She leaned her head onto his chest. It felt nice to be here again, sitting in the darkest corner of the room in his lap.

"My summer I suppose…"

"Dumbledore and Snape talked. They think that it would be best if we didn't spend too much time apart, with everything that happened last time, we sort of scared the piss out of them."

"I don't want to be anywhere near your father. You can stay with us."

"Your parents are studying the cultures of mer-people this summer. They plan on being underwater for nearly five months, starting in April."

"So, you should be happy, I won't be able to send owl's to anyone, you can have me all to yourself, under water."

"…They don't want you to come."

"I know. They never do."

"So you have to stay with us. But dad is hardly there anyway, and mum is…well she might be a problem with giving us alone time." He exhaled a warm breath into her neck and nuzzled deeper into the space in between her throat and her jaw line.

"Draco…please…" He left a single kiss on the now purple bruise that wrapped nearly all the way around her neck.

"I'm sorry that your summer is ruined."

"It's better in honesty, normally I end up staying with distant relatives for a few days, then my parents for week long intervals, and with Snape for the rest of the time."

"Well, you'll be able to settle down some this summer, my mum is already decorating your room. But we do attend a lot of things, and we vacation a bit. But you're going to be with me for all of it."

"Great, I'll be drug to events I don't want to attend, force fed things I don't want to eat, and best of all I'll be living with my worst nightmare…sounds perfect for me."

"I'm not going to force feed you, I'm just going to feed you period. Harry's compliments scare the shit out of me even if you don't mind them."

"How would you hear his compliments? Are you having Crabbe and Goyle hover over me still?"

"I talk to Fred and George more than you realize. The last time I checked it was still considered a foul thing to encourage anorexia."

"I eat at every meal."

"And I am curiously celibate."

"I do eat! And just because I can't be the oversexed Draco Malfoy of food, which by the way would make me obese, does not mean that I don't eat enough!" Her anger flared with white hot intensity and faded away just as quickly when she realized that she had exhausted the majority of her emotional strength for the day on forgiving a friend for almost choking her to death.

"No, you nibble. That hardly constitutes eating."

"I'm not even that small, I've gained some weight." She mumbled out the words and let her head rest on his chest.

"Illy what dress size are you right now?" Her lids fluttered closed slowly

"That doesn't matter, I've never been a big girl." Her voice was still firm in her throat as she let herself become comfortable on his lap.

"Answer the question." He insisted stoically. Her soft grip in his shirt, as though it was a security blanket, was endearing but he had to focus. If he was going to be able to fix this broken girl in one summer he would have to make himself virtually immune to the normal reactions her touch elicited.

"I'm a double zero alright. But they make the size, so that means that perfectly healthy people have that weight."

"Perfectly healthy people don't consider one fourth of a cup of mash and four baby carrots dinner." He shuddered unnoticeably under her touch as she began to play with the hem of his shirt betwixt her fingers.

"Have you really been tracking my meals?"

"You eat them off my plate."

"Right…but I eat more often than most people."

"You used to. Before I got hurt." She could hear his voice flocculate painfully when he spoke about the incident; he never did get over the guilty feeling that everything that had gone haywire in her system was his fault. "But you never go to the kitchens with Harry and Ron anymore." Draco smiled triumphantly when Illy had no other protests. She sighed and deflated into his chest, as the air was pointless. She had nothing else to say to him.

"My mum wants to know…if you'll come for Christmas."

"No she doesn't. At least don't think that I can't tell when my best friend is lying. And no I won't. I already said I'd stay. Harry asked me to."

"He's been beating me to the punch lately."

"Quite literally." Illy accidentally let the thought blurt out. She immediately put her hands over her mouth to cover it. Draco smiled at her, with an icy glare but a kind smile. His ability to mix emotions with his expression was something that she loved about him. It was as if his eyes said what he was thinking and his mouth said what he wanted to be thinking; or something along those lines, she hadn't figured it all out quite yet.

"At least don't think that I can't tell when my best friend is in trouble." He craned his neck to be closer to her face and kissed her fingers lightly, before prying them from her mouth. He ran his thumb across her cheek lightly and pulled her slightly closer, she shuddered in his arms. Chills ran up and down her spine, begging her to do something she shouldn't. She leaned her head closer to his, bolting her eyes down so that she had the excuse of not seeing what she was doing. Her kiss missed target however, and was instead placed onto the palm of Draco's hand.

"I won't be a backup, or a summer fling, or a plaything to any woman." He quoted the lines back to her.

"I'm still right about that you know."

"No you're not. I'll prove you wrong one day; it would hurt my pride too much to have been mistaken about something so vital to my daily life."

"Now I simply can't let you be right. I've got a chance to hurt you in my grasp."

"If you want to hurt me than go ahead and say I'm right, I'll go get some handcuffs or something." He mischievously grasped her wrists and pulled them high over her head.

"There's something wrong with the fact that this turns you on." She said in the driest, most cynical tone she could muster.

"No there's something right with both of us, because it does the same for you."

"But I black out randomly, see other people's lives in my dreams, and am horribly afraid of your father, though I've only spoken to him three times. It's ok for someone like me to be into sadomasochism."

"In that case, I'm terrified of some little girl from a nightmare I've been having for the past several months, Pansy has been sexually abusing me for years, and I hate my dad too." He put both wrists in one hand and started to pull her shirt up from the bottom.

"Careful, you might hurt your shirt." Her voice was breathy and distracted, but jovial.

"Fuck my shirt." He pulled out his wand and used it to tear the shirt all the way up to her bra. The spell split the shirt seamlessly, like a letter opener on parchment. He pushed a hand between the two flaps of shirt onto her bare stomach.

"See, you like how thin I am any way." She jeered with little focus on the words coming out of her mouth. He froze in place for a second before sharply withdrawing his hand in disgust, and dropping her hands back to her side.

"Don't you dare assume that just because I can hardly keep my hands off you in public, I take pleasure in your sickness." He used his wand to fix the shirt and swiftly got up from the chair, but placed her into it in his place.

"I'm just saying Draco, you couldn't just pick me up and drop me in chairs like you can if I weighed more."

"I'd work out."

"You already do."

"I'll start working out more. You need to understand that I don't see the difference between what you are now and what you would be if you weighed six hundred pounds. All I see is that you are risking your health with your eating habits."

"If I weighed six hundred pounds I'm fairly certain that not only would I have crushed you a moment a go, but I would have taken out this chair with you." She smiled at him. He yielded and put her back in his lap, neither of them was in the mood to fight about anything.

"You're a mess Killy, and I'm going to spend my whole summer holiday trying to get your head strait."

"Killy? I like that, it sounds dangerous."

"Or just stupid, the two things that describe my relationship with you."

"So what are you planning to straiten out in my head?" She absentmindedly played with his long hair, drawing circles on his neck with the strands that were now an inch down from his shoulders.

"At least go shopping with me this break."

"It'll be a pain in the ass for them to let me go, too much work."

"I'll get my parents to take care of it. Besides you're beginning to steal my clothing."

"I'm not stealing them, you can have them back."

"Right now?" He grinned and started for the button on her pants.

"No! Not right now!" She slapped his hand away.

"You stripped for Fred!" He whined.

"That was different. We were covered in food, and he wasn't supposed to react the way he did…even though I understand it. Who could keep their hands off me?"

"I can go get some food if you want. I'm sure I have a container of whipped cream in my room."

"You keep it with the handcuffs I suppose."

"Where else?" He was now smiling like a school boy. His cheeks were pale pink shades, not from blushing, but instead from smiling for too long.

"Illy, Harry's looking for you." Jackquinn burst through the door looking somewhat aggravated, though not thoroughly pissed quite yet.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, moving Illy from his lap to the nearest sofa, where he could sit next to her.

"Are you two dating yet? Or are you going to date Harry? I really am sick of this shit." Jackquinn snapped at the silent Illy.

"Hey, calm down Jacky. What happened?" She moved quickly across the room to give Jacky a hug, and drag him back to the couch with her. He kicked his shoes off and put his head in her lap. Draco smirked at Jacky's posture. He was laying across the couch with curled knees and eyes closed but his face was pointed straight up at Illy.

"Harry's just a bloody douche."

"What did he say?"

"He just told me that you had better wear a scarf tonight, and that I should tell Draco that he'll be extending the same forgiveness to you for embarrassing him as he did Draco."

"That all? Because seeing as most of that was a pathetic attempt by him at coding it didn't really apply to you."

"I figured he gave you a little love nip…and I did get the part about Draco" Jacky opened his eyes and they widened considerably. "Holly bloody fuck! That's no love nip, that's like…what is that?"

"Harry finds sport in choking girls in darkened alley ways."

"So do you, but he used his hands!"

"Ahem!" Illy drew the boys' attention back to the fact that she was still present. "I believe you were finishing your explanation as to why Harry is a douche."

"Oh, yeah…He just decided it would be polite to bring up my family when I told him he should run off with his ginger snap and release some of his sexual tension." Draco was instantly in hysterics as Jacky finished. Illy gaped…and then she gawked.

"You told Ron what?"

"Well it was meant for Harry love, don't get too mad. And besides why should you care? As I recall Ron's best friend plans to beat the living shite out of you the second he gets a chance." Draco put an arm around Illy as he spoke arrogantly.

"Get off me Draco, this is serious. Do you two want me involved in a war?"

"Well, we'd win. You can tell us everything that's coming." Jacky shrugged and curled up closer to Illy.

"It doesn't work like that, and you know it. But that's beside the point; I'm not interested in choosing sides."

"Of course not" Jacky played up the drama of the statement by drawing out each word, "you're who the war is over, you can't choose sides, we'll all fight to the death over you."

"Then I want my own side, I'd kick everyone's arse and she'd be all mine!" Draco became animated at the thought of being able to mortally wound a few choice competitors. Illy put her head in her hands and exhaled loudly.

"There is going to be no fighting or I'll just move back to Benin with Mum and Da and be done with all of your asses. Now back to what you were saying Jacky; I'll get Hermione and Ginny to stay close by tonight so that Harry can't do anything too drastic. And you need to tell me just what he said about your family so that I know what to hit him for."

"Oh, nothing too terrible came from your scar headed boyfriend, he only said that he could just go relieve all of his sexual tension on both of my mothers because they're such whores they don't mind having a cock loving, adopted, nancy boy as a bastard son."

"Wow…that's creative…does he know your gay?" Illy tried her best to envision Harry cursing quite that liberally, but seeing as Jacky was a Slytherin none of his friends would much care would they? That and he had just called Ron a gay ginger snap.

"No, he just put it in there. But that does mean that the whole school now knows that I have a lovely set of lesbians raising me, and you can bet everyone will be craning a neck to see the very French, very non black, couple, at the platform."

"I don't take the train home. My Mum and Dad just come and get me directly from the school most of the time." Draco explained.

"Guess that's the rout I'll be taking to save myself from gawking irritants."

"You are a bloody gawking irritant, damn first years can't stop causing me trouble." Draco shoved Jacky from the couch onto the floor and pulled Illy into his lap once again.

"What was that for? I don't cause you any trouble!" Jacky jumped up from his spot on the floor and stood ready to rip Draco's head off.

"You were getting more attention than me." Draco explained as if this was perfectly rational. "I don't get her often, and you're making a nuisance of yourself, barging in here and lounging around on her like she's furniture." Illy might have been upset if Jackquinn had not accepted the explanation with a shrug and a smile before sitting down in their chair.

"So what? You're the furniture in the relationship."

"Until he feeds me so much that I weigh six hundred pounds and I crush him." Illy muttered.

"She can sit on me on me all she wants." Draco smiled and snaked an arm around her waist.

"So back to the question originally asked, are you dating this little bit of princely slut or are you shagging Harry?"

"Both as far as I know" Draco answered before Illy could open her mouth. Illy tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he only rolled his eyes as she had missed him and hit the couch.

"I'm not dating you, and I have never so much as touched my lips to Harry…except for that one peck on the cheek. But that was a while back."

"She's lying. I saw her come back to class late the other day with Harry, looking like a tornado had ripped through her."

"I explained that to you…It was a tornado, just not a very sexually appealing one, even to the likes of me."

"Right…oh, by the way, is that heart still on your ass?" Draco asked the question as though he had only requested the time, but Illy's heart skipped a beat and her temperature went up three or four degrees. Jacky smiled and nodded knowingly,

"It's still there all right."

"I'm leaving." Illy stood up and headed tried to go towards the door, Draco had other plans however as he pulled her back by her waste, spun her around, and pulled her back to his lap. Her face was not even an inch from his. He looked into her eyes intently; the normally cool shale orbs were now a flashing shade of electric blue. He leaned his head in, so that their foreheads were touching,

"You better keep yourself safe Killy, I'd hate to spend my life in Azkaban for a crime so petty as killing Harry Potter." Illy smiled slyly at his sentiment.

"If he saw you right now I think he'd be saying the same thing."

"So would half the school, but they're just as jealous as he is. So take care of yourself." Draco made the statement more a demand than a suggestion.

"I will, I promise. Don't wait up tonight. I won't be back until late."

"It's the last night I'll see you before break though."

"I'll let you retrace your heart in the morning, that way I'll know where your thoughts'll be all break."

"I don't know about that, I do get other ass you know." Draco smiled and caught her lips in a tiny kiss. It was more like their lips brushed just long enough for the thought to register after they separated again. Illy pulled him into a hug and stood to leave again,

"Fine then, my ass will be ink free." She winked and walked out the door.

"You just passed up a chance to write whatever the hell you want on Killious Enquirous' ass. I'm not even straight and I'd do that." Jacky spoke up from his chair.

"You don't get it do you? She's just playing games with me, and I'm not always going to give her whatever she wants."

"You don't want to have her bend over for the sole purpose of giving you a good view, so that you can graffiti her arse?"

"I didn't say that, it's just that she likes to know she's stringing the whole world on, and I won't give her that satisfaction."

"Only because she won't do the same for you."

"Exactly, one of us is going to break down and loose this game, and it won't be me."

"Fine, but when both of you end up dangerously inseparable and still miserable with one another because neither of you has the sand to call the games off, I'm going to remind you that I told you so."

"Shut up Jackquinn, you don't even like your boyfriend and you two actually shag."

"You think I'd let that cheating ponce put his dick near me? Fat chance. He hasn't gotten any thing since the second girl I caught him with."

"Maybe that's why he keeps cheating."

"I don't care either way, he's just there to make Dolan realize that he needs to be honest with himself and Christian."

"Playing mind games I see."

"Shut up Draco, you don't even like your girlfriend and you two nock so loud the whole damn dorm has to hear it."

"Point taken…you're a bitch Jacky."

"We're a mess, and you're a bitch too."

"But the game must go on, we don't even have choice. But I'll play dirty if I must."

"You want to see dirty, try this on: I sneak off to the back of the library almost every day to snogg Dolan, and then I head off to Clause's dorm."

"I think about Illy whenever I'm fucking someone else…I literally convince myself that she's the one lying there."

"In that case, she's in for some surprise when you two actually get down to knocking boots, your imagination has the dorm up until three a.m. twice a week, I don't even want to know how late it will be when you finally have your way with that poor child."

"I have a feeling that she might not be the only loud one. I doubt she's quite as new at this as most of the girls here. You have to think about the fact that she's been all over the world, she's probably got a record like a sailor."

"I have some great stories about her sexcapades…wow, Italy is some place."

"Don't tell me she's a total tramp."

"Nah, she's just got the two Italians, the one Portuguese guy, the one quidditch player, and the auror…oh and Snape."

"You're shitting me…That's disgusting, he's old enough to be her dad, hell he practically is her dad!" Draco's face twisted in disgust.

"Actually I am just fucking with you. Snape has never even crossed her mind as far as I know." Jacky chuckled at Draco's face.

"Still, that's what, five partners?"

"Ask her about it sometime, she's not exactly shy. Almost all of the situations are so bazaar, like someone was just looking for her to get her ass killed."

"So what she fucked her assassins?"

"Just ask…and Draco…"

"Yeah Jackquinn?"

"Thanks for not having problems with my being gay."

"I only have problems with your being a black mudblooded pesky first year with lesbian parents and an adoptive background."

"What a relief."

"But really, you are pesky."

"And nosy."


	27. 26 Keep trying to fight it

AN: For Sam again

AN: For Sam again. Looking back on these chapters (25-27) I'm realizing what a long day this must have been for Killious…three chapters of emotional flux's and ever changing dynamic relationships. I'm not sure I could endure that…-Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 26

Illy walked silently the rest of the way back to the dormitories with Draco. They were both holding out for the other person to explain what had just transpired between the three involved parties.

"A thank you will do." Draco finally said with a mocking sneer, breaking the silence.

"Thank you for what? He's going to be twice as bad later! Damn it Draco he had put me down, I just had to catch my breath. It was done with and over! Now he's going to kill me! You embarrassed him…that can't happen"

"Do you seek out these fucked up relationships or do they come to you?"

"Don't act so self righteous! You made the same mistake last year as I recall. But he's not that bad to me…or at least he wasn't but this is crazy…" Tears were starting to trickle down her cheeks. He felt like they were leaking from the tip of her chin right down into his heart where they fizzed and burned like acid.

"Illy, he had his hands around your throat. He was going to choke you to death over something you weren't even responsible for." He picked her up from where she stood ridged just inside the door of the common room and sat her down on his lap in his favorite chair. Consequently it was her favorite as well, which means that he usually yielded it to her. It was better to sit across the room and imagine the things they did while she was in that chair than it was to have to deal with her unhappy looks.

She refused look him in the eye, something that he found deeply disturbing, though he half expected it. She was having a hell of a time at it though; the temptation to glance away from the uneventful wall and look at him was frustrating. But he would need to give her some kind of apology.

"We have some other things we need to talk about." Close enough. She leaned her head onto his chest. It felt nice to be here again, sitting in the darkest corner of the room in his lap.

"My summer I suppose…"

"Dumbledore and Snape talked. They think that it would be best if we didn't spend too much time apart, with everything that happened last time, we sort of scared the piss out of them."

"I don't want to be anywhere near your father. You can stay with us."

"Your parents are studying the cultures of mer-people this summer. They plan on being underwater for nearly five months, starting in April."

"So, you should be happy, I won't be able to send owl's to anyone, you can have me all to yourself, under water."

"…They don't want you to come."

"I know. They never do."

"So you have to stay with us. But dad is hardly there anyway, and mum is…well she might be a problem with giving us alone time." He exhaled a warm breath into her neck and nuzzled deeper into the space in between her throat and her jaw line.

"Draco…please…" He left a single kiss on the now purple bruise that wrapped nearly all the way around her neck.

"I'm sorry that your summer is ruined."

"It's better in honesty, normally I end up staying with distant relatives for a few days, then my parents for week long intervals, and with Snape for the rest of the time."

"Well, you'll be able to settle down some this summer, my mum is already decorating your room. But we do attend a lot of things, and we vacation a bit. But you're going to be with me for all of it."

"Great, I'll be drug to events I don't want to attend, force fed things I don't want to eat, and best of all I'll be living with my worst nightmare…sounds perfect for me."

"I'm not going to force feed you, I'm just going to feed you period. Harry's compliments scare the shit out of me even if you don't mind them."

"How would you hear his compliments? Are you having Crabbe and Goyle hover over me still?"

"I talk to Fred and George more than you realize. The last time I checked it was still considered a foul thing to encourage anorexia."

"I eat at every meal."

"And I am curiously celibate."

"I do eat! And just because I can't be the oversexed Draco Malfoy of food, which by the way would make me obese, does not mean that I don't eat enough!" Her anger flared with white hot intensity and faded away just as quickly when she realized that she had exhausted the majority of her emotional strength for the day on forgiving a friend for almost choking her to death.

"No, you nibble. That hardly constitutes eating."

"I'm not even that small, I've gained some weight." She mumbled out the words and let her head rest on his chest.

"Illy what dress size are you right now?" Her lids fluttered closed slowly

"That doesn't matter, I've never been a big girl." Her voice was still firm in her throat as she let herself become comfortable on his lap.

"Answer the question." He insisted stoically. Her soft grip in his shirt, as though it was a security blanket, was endearing but he had to focus. If he was going to be able to fix this broken girl in one summer he would have to make himself virtually immune to the normal reactions her touch elicited.

"I'm a double zero alright. But they make the size, so that means that perfectly healthy people have that weight."

"Perfectly healthy people don't consider one fourth of a cup of mash and four baby carrots dinner." He shuddered unnoticeably under her touch as she began to play with the hem of his shirt betwixt her fingers.

"Have you really been tracking my meals?"

"You eat them off my plate."

"Right…but I eat more often than most people."

"You used to. Before I got hurt." She could hear his voice flocculate painfully when he spoke about the incident; he never did get over the guilty feeling that everything that had gone haywire in her system was his fault. "But you never go to the kitchens with Harry and Ron anymore." Draco smiled triumphantly when Illy had no other protests. She sighed and deflated into his chest, as the air was pointless. She had nothing else to say to him.

"My mum wants to know…if you'll come for Christmas."

"No she doesn't. At least don't think that I can't tell when my best friend is lying. And no I won't. I already said I'd stay. Harry asked me to."

"He's been beating me to the punch lately."

"Quite literally." Illy accidentally let the thought blurt out. She immediately put her hands over her mouth to cover it. Draco smiled at her, with an icy glare but a kind smile. His ability to mix emotions with his expression was something that she loved about him. It was as if his eyes said what he was thinking and his mouth said what he wanted to be thinking; or something along those lines, she hadn't figured it all out quite yet.

"At least don't think that I can't tell when my best friend is in trouble." He craned his neck to be closer to her face and kissed her fingers lightly, before prying them from her mouth. He ran his thumb across her cheek lightly and pulled her slightly closer, she shuddered in his arms. Chills ran up and down her spine, begging her to do something she shouldn't. She leaned her head closer to his, bolting her eyes down so that she had the excuse of not seeing what she was doing. Her kiss missed target however, and was instead placed onto the palm of Draco's hand.

"I won't be a backup, or a summer fling, or a plaything to any woman." He quoted the lines back to her.

"I'm still right about that you know."

"No you're not. I'll prove you wrong one day; it would hurt my pride too much to have been mistaken about something so vital to my daily life."

"Now I simply can't let you be right. I've got a chance to hurt you in my grasp."

"If you want to hurt me than go ahead and say I'm right, I'll go get some handcuffs or something." He mischievously grasped her wrists and pulled them high over her head.

"There's something wrong with the fact that this turns you on." She said in the driest, most cynical tone she could muster.

"No there's something right with both of us, because it does the same for you."

"But I black out randomly, see other people's lives in my dreams, and am horribly afraid of your father, though I've only spoken to him three times. It's ok for someone like me to be into sadomasochism."

"In that case, I'm terrified of some little girl from a nightmare I've been having for the past several months, Pansy has been sexually abusing me for years, and I hate my dad too." He put both wrists in one hand and started to pull her shirt up from the bottom.

"Careful, you might hurt your shirt." Her voice was breathy and distracted, but jovial.

"Fuck my shirt." He pulled out his wand and used it to tear the shirt all the way up to her bra. The spell split the shirt seamlessly, like a letter opener on parchment. He pushed a hand between the two flaps of shirt onto her bare stomach.

"See, you like how thin I am any way." She jeered with little focus on the words coming out of her mouth. He froze in place for a second before sharply withdrawing his hand in disgust, and dropping her hands back to her side.

"Don't you dare assume that just because I can hardly keep my hands off you in public, I take pleasure in your sickness." He used his wand to fix the shirt and swiftly got up from the chair, but placed her into it in his place.

"I'm just saying Draco, you couldn't just pick me up and drop me in chairs like you can if I weighed more."

"I'd work out."

"You already do."

"I'll start working out more. You need to understand that I don't see the difference between what you are now and what you would be if you weighed six hundred pounds. All I see is that you are risking your health with your eating habits."

"If I weighed six hundred pounds I'm fairly certain that not only would I have crushed you a moment a go, but I would have taken out this chair with you." She smiled at him. He yielded and put her back in his lap, neither of them was in the mood to fight about anything.

"You're a mess Killy, and I'm going to spend my whole summer holiday trying to get your head strait."

"Killy? I like that, it sounds dangerous."

"Or just stupid, the two things that describe my relationship with you."

"So what are you planning to straiten out in my head?" She absentmindedly played with his long hair, drawing circles on his neck with the strands that were now an inch down from his shoulders.

"At least go shopping with me this break."

"It'll be a pain in the ass for them to let me go, too much work."

"I'll get my parents to take care of it. Besides you're beginning to steal my clothing."

"I'm not stealing them, you can have them back."

"Right now?" He grinned and started for the button on her pants.

"No! Not right now!" She slapped his hand away.

"You stripped for Fred!" He whined.

"That was different. We were covered in food, and he wasn't supposed to react the way he did…even though I understand it. Who could keep their hands off me?"

"I can go get some food if you want. I'm sure I have a container of whipped cream in my room."

"You keep it with the handcuffs I suppose."

"Where else?" He was now smiling like a school boy. His cheeks were pale pink shades, not from blushing, but instead from smiling for too long.

"Illy, Harry's looking for you." Jackquinn burst through the door looking somewhat aggravated, though not thoroughly pissed quite yet.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, moving Illy from his lap to the nearest sofa, where he could sit next to her.

"Are you two dating yet? Or are you going to date Harry? I really am sick of this shit." Jackquinn snapped at the silent Illy.

"Hey, calm down Jacky. What happened?" She moved quickly across the room to give Jacky a hug, and drag him back to the couch with her. He kicked his shoes off and put his head in her lap. Draco smirked at Jacky's posture. He was laying across the couch with curled knees and eyes closed but his face was pointed straight up at Illy.

"Harry's just a bloody douche."

"What did he say?"

"He just told me that you had better wear a scarf tonight, and that I should tell Draco that he'll be extending the same forgiveness to you for embarrassing him as he did Draco."

"That all? Because seeing as most of that was a pathetic attempt by him at coding it didn't really apply to you."

"I figured he gave you a little love nip…and I did get the part about Draco" Jacky opened his eyes and they widened considerably. "Holly bloody fuck! That's no love nip, that's like…what is that?"

"Harry finds sport in choking girls in darkened alley ways."

"So do you, but he used his hands!"

"Ahem!" Illy drew the boys' attention back to the fact that she was still present. "I believe you were finishing your explanation as to why Harry is a douche."

"Oh, yeah…He just decided it would be polite to bring up my family when I told him he should run off with his ginger snap and release some of his sexual tension." Draco was instantly in hysterics as Jacky finished. Illy gaped…and then she gawked.

"You told Ron what?"

"Well it was meant for Harry love, don't get too mad. And besides why should you care? As I recall Ron's best friend plans to beat the living shite out of you the second he gets a chance." Draco put an arm around Illy as he spoke arrogantly.

"Get off me Draco, this is serious. Do you two want me involved in a war?"

"Well, we'd win. You can tell us everything that's coming." Jacky shrugged and curled up closer to Illy.

"It doesn't work like that, and you know it. But that's beside the point; I'm not interested in choosing sides."

"Of course not" Jacky played up the drama of the statement by drawing out each word, "you're who the war is over, you can't choose sides, we'll all fight to the death over you."

"Then I want my own side, I'd kick everyone's arse and she'd be all mine!" Draco became animated at the thought of being able to mortally wound a few choice competitors. Illy put her head in her hands and exhaled loudly.

"There is going to be no fighting or I'll just move back to Benin with Mum and Da and be done with all of your asses. Now back to what you were saying Jacky; I'll get Hermione and Ginny to stay close by tonight so that Harry can't do anything too drastic. And you need to tell me just what he said about your family so that I know what to hit him for."

"Oh, nothing too terrible came from your scar headed boyfriend, he only said that he could just go relieve all of his sexual tension on both of my mothers because they're such whores they don't mind having a cock loving, adopted, nancy boy as a bastard son."

"Wow…that's creative…does he know your gay?" Illy tried her best to envision Harry cursing quite that liberally, but seeing as Jacky was a Slytherin none of his friends would much care would they? That and he had just called Ron a gay ginger snap.

"No, he just put it in there. But that does mean that the whole school now knows that I have a lovely set of lesbians raising me, and you can bet everyone will be craning a neck to see the very French, very non black, couple, at the platform."

"I don't take the train home. My Mum and Dad just come and get me directly from the school most of the time." Draco explained.

"Guess that's the rout I'll be taking to save myself from gawking irritants."

"You are a bloody gawking irritant, damn first years can't stop causing me trouble." Draco shoved Jacky from the couch onto the floor and pulled Illy into his lap once again.

"What was that for? I don't cause you any trouble!" Jacky jumped up from his spot on the floor and stood ready to rip Draco's head off.

"You were getting more attention than me." Draco explained as if this was perfectly rational. "I don't get her often, and you're making a nuisance of yourself, barging in here and lounging around on her like she's furniture." Illy might have been upset if Jackquinn had not accepted the explanation with a shrug and a smile before sitting down in their chair.

"So what? You're the furniture in the relationship."

"Until he feeds me so much that I weigh six hundred pounds and I crush him." Illy muttered.

"She can sit on me on me all she wants." Draco smiled and snaked an arm around her waist.

"So back to the question originally asked, are you dating this little bit of princely slut or are you shagging Harry?"

"Both as far as I know" Draco answered before Illy could open her mouth. Illy tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he only rolled his eyes as she had missed him and hit the couch.

"I'm not dating you, and I have never so much as touched my lips to Harry…except for that one peck on the cheek. But that was a while back."

"She's lying. I saw her come back to class late the other day with Harry, looking like a tornado had ripped through her."

"I explained that to you…It was a tornado, just not a very sexually appealing one, even to the likes of me."

"Right…oh, by the way, is that heart still on your ass?" Draco asked the question as though he had only requested the time, but Illy's heart skipped a beat and her temperature went up three or four degrees. Jacky smiled and nodded knowingly,

"It's still there all right."

"I'm leaving." Illy stood up and headed tried to go towards the door, Draco had other plans however as he pulled her back by her waste, spun her around, and pulled her back to his lap. Her face was not even an inch from his. He looked into her eyes intently; the normally cool shale orbs were now a flashing shade of electric blue. He leaned his head in, so that their foreheads were touching,

"You better keep yourself safe Killy, I'd hate to spend my life in Azkaban for a crime so petty as killing Harry Potter." Illy smiled slyly at his sentiment.

"If he saw you right now I think he'd be saying the same thing."

"So would half the school, but they're just as jealous as he is. So take care of yourself." Draco made the statement more a demand than a suggestion.

"I will, I promise. Don't wait up tonight. I won't be back until late."

"It's the last night I'll see you before break though."

"I'll let you retrace your heart in the morning, that way I'll know where your thoughts'll be all break."

"I don't know about that, I do get other ass you know." Draco smiled and caught her lips in a tiny kiss. It was more like their lips brushed just long enough for the thought to register after they separated again. Illy pulled him into a hug and stood to leave again,

"Fine then, my ass will be ink free." She winked and walked out the door.

"You just passed up a chance to write whatever the hell you want on Killious Enquirous' ass. I'm not even straight and I'd do that." Jacky spoke up from his chair.

"You don't get it do you? She's just playing games with me, and I'm not always going to give her whatever she wants."

"You don't want to have her bend over for the sole purpose of giving you a good view, so that you can graffiti her arse?"

"I didn't say that, it's just that she likes to know she's stringing the whole world on, and I won't give her that satisfaction."

"Only because she won't do the same for you."

"Exactly, one of us is going to break down and loose this game, and it won't be me."

"Fine, but when both of you end up dangerously inseparable and still miserable with one another because neither of you has the sand to call the games off, I'm going to remind you that I told you so."

"Shut up Jackquinn, you don't even like your boyfriend and you two actually shag."

"You think I'd let that cheating ponce put his dick near me? Fat chance. He hasn't gotten any thing since the second girl I caught him with."

"Maybe that's why he keeps cheating."

"I don't care either way, he's just there to make Dolan realize that he needs to be honest with himself and Christian."

"Playing mind games I see."

"Shut up Draco, you don't even like your girlfriend and you two nock so loud the whole damn dorm has to hear it."

"Point taken…you're a bitch Jacky."

"We're a mess, and you're a bitch too."

"But the game must go on, we don't even have choice. But I'll play dirty if I must."

"You want to see dirty, try this on: I sneak off to the back of the library almost every day to snogg Dolan, and then I head off to Clause's dorm."

"I think about Illy whenever I'm fucking someone else…I literally convince myself that she's the one lying there."

"In that case, she's in for some surprise when you two actually get down to knocking boots, your imagination has the dorm up until three a.m. twice a week, I don't even want to know how late it will be when you finally have your way with that poor child."

"I have a feeling that she might not be the only loud one. I doubt she's quite as new at this as most of the girls here. You have to think about the fact that she's been all over the world, she's probably got a record like a sailor."

"I have some great stories about her sexcapades…wow, Italy is some place."

"Don't tell me she's a total tramp."

"Nah, she's just got the two Italians, the one Portuguese guy, the one quidditch player, and the auror…oh and Snape."

"You're shitting me…That's disgusting, he's old enough to be her dad, hell he practically is her dad!" Draco's face twisted in disgust.

"Actually I am just fucking with you. Snape has never even crossed her mind as far as I know." Jacky chuckled at Draco's face.

"Still, that's what, five partners?"

"Ask her about it sometime, she's not exactly shy. Almost all of the situations are so bazaar, like someone was just looking for her to get her ass killed."

"So what she fucked her assassins?"

"Just ask…and Draco…"

"Yeah Jackquinn?"

"Thanks for not having problems with my being gay."

"I only have problems with your being a black mudblooded pesky first year with lesbian parents and an adoptive background."

"What a relief."

"But really, you are pesky."

"And nosy."


	28. 27 Mamma, Pappa, Forgive me

AN: Last chapter for this update, which means of course that it is also dedicated to the amazing Sam

AN: Last chapter for this update, which means of course that it is also dedicated to the amazing Sam. I would now like to do a bit of whoring my good friend. I want anyone reading this to rush to the profile of Classysam and read something by her. After you have done so, leave her a great review and gush about her brilliance and kindness to all of your friends on thank you all, please drop me a few reviews to tell me you still care, -Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 27

Illy waited patiently out side of the great hall for dinner to roll around, it wasn't too hard to sit for a full hour and half while students filtered in from Hogsmead as she needed to catch up on Hermione's little two person book club assignment. She had noticed that as of late the books had become more and more obviously involved in searching for a way to save Buckbeak. The books of the moment happened to be _Written Rights XI: Magical Creatures A-P_, and _Sentient and Sensitive: Standing up for animals_. Illy finished off the first book with an hour, as she had already started it, not to mention that she had seen a majority of the creatures in person and knew what many of their legal rights were; such as every dragon's right to consume the flesh of local herds as long as the prey's population does not govern the local economy, and as long as the dragon is not seen by the locals. She also found some rights that she had never expected, like the Phoenix's right to be excused from any arson related damages or casualties, as their molting process is not something they can necessarily prevent; though in case of mortal wounding and worse, the Phoenix is encouraged to shed a few tears to heal innocent bystanders.

The second book was a bit more tedious, though it was interesting. She had just finished the first unit of the book on the processes involved in petitioning to give an animal a new right when she heard Hermione's chipper voice from the end of the hall.

"Illy, I see you've gotten on that reading list."

"Of course sweetie, it was of the utmost importance obviously." Illy joined arms with Hermione and headed into the hall towards their dinner seats.

""How far in are you?" Hermione asked, as if she needed to be hush because she was dealing with a national plot of government overthrowing. Illy giggled and took her seat next to her.

"I just finished my debriefing on petitioning for a new right. But I'm not sure what kind of right would help us Herm, I mean what are we going to do? Ask that Hippogriffs be aloud to snap at bystanders when taunted?"

"It's by far not the most outlandish request that's ever been made Illy."

"What you two talkin' about?" Ron asked as he took his seat across from the girls with a mild thunk.

"Some sort of right we can reasonably petition for; to help Buckbeak out." Killious explained as she ladled a bit of clear chicken broth into a bowl.

"How about the right to kill obnoxious brats?"

"Be reasonable Ron, we need a reasonable solution." Hermione nagged at Ron.

"G'Evening Harry." Illy greeted Harry. He smiled a small, but genuine smile and sat next to Ron.

"What if we tried to get Buckbeak the right to an option like anger rehabilitation?" Harry tried.

"That could work, but there really aren't all that many magical creature rehabs Harry. We might have to go as far as Scandinavia…" Hermione's passion about the issue was flickering as Ron served her a small meat pie and mash.

"Illy, you want a pie?" Ron offered.

"No thanks Ron, I'm feeling a bit lightheaded still." Illy offered. Harry smiled at this response and winked at Ron.

"You two have been doing that since lunch, what on earth is so secret that you can't even tell me?" Hermione burst.

"It's a guy thing." Ron explained with a flick of his wrist.

"Yeah, just guy stuff is all." Harry agreed.

"Jeeze, the girl goes back home feeling nauseated and you guys make it seem like really she robbed a bank." Hermione's exasperation was evident as she took a bite of her food.

"I did nothing so interesting as that." Illy winked at Harry this time, he smiled brightly to her in response. "So tonight is the last night before break," Illy began, "We should all stay together."

"That's sounds good to me." Ron flashed a smile.

"We should invite Ginny too, me and Herm need someone to make the two of you feel ostracized."

"Ostra-what?" Ron asked in bewilderment.

"Ostracized Ron, really I thought that my company might improve your vocabulary, but I guess that it hasn't done a thing for you…Ostracized means set apart from others, or basically excluded."

"Oh…why would you want to ostraseeze us?"

"It's ostra-SIZE Ron."

"Whatever, why would you want to ostracize us then Killious?"

"For the sole purpose of finding something that Hermione, Ginny, and I can wink obnoxiously about." Illy explained and shrugged.

"I brought a pillow and a blanket down from my bed so that you have something to sleep with, incase you get tired." Harry presented the red quilt and gold pillow with a smile, and a light blush. Illy took the bit of bedding and tossed it next to her on the couch.

"So, where is Ron?" She asked. So far Hermione, Ginny, and Harry had come down the stairs and assembled makeshift beds, but Ron was no where to be found.

"He went to the kitchens to get us some snacks. I figured you would want something, you didn't really eat enough for dinner." Harry explained, clearly out of his element in the dietary advice. He actually preferred Illy skeletal, though he couldn't seem to figure out why. It was the same thing that made him want to kill her and make love to her all at once, a feeling that he needed to control her or she would somehow find his deepest weakness and exploit it relentlessly.

"I'm actually fine, but I guess a croissant wouldn't hurt."

"Oh please Illy, Ron'll just end up bringing us pockets filled with biscuits and cakes." Ginny exclaimed with a giggle. Illy just nodded and swallowed the grain like spit in the back of her throat roughly. Someone had gotten to Harry, most likely Draco.

Ron came into the room a few minutes later with a huge smile to match the amount of food he had brought with him. Hermione had already set up his bed, in between her own and Harry's, which was next to Illy's, which was next to Ginny's; completing the circle of friends that were prepared to exhaust themselves staying up all night for the singular purpose of talking about nothing…or that was the plan.

"So, I think that now would be a great time to brainstorm for solutions to our problem involving Buck-"

"Aww Herm, we said no work." Ron interrupted.

"Yeah, Hermione I'm sick of working all the time on this thing. One night before winter break won't kill us or Buckbeak." Harry piped up.

"Fine. What should we talk about?" Hermione asked with great frustration.

"This reminds me of when we were little kids and we used to sit up all night with Bill and Percy the night before they went to school." Ginny giggled again at her own observations, or maybe it was her proximity to Harry, Illy didn't know or much care.

"Yeah, that was back when we used to go swimming in the pond out back all the time!" Ron exclaimed.

"I used to go swimming with the other kids in my neighborhood back home at the community pool." Hermione added.

"And I just went swimming in the bathtub." Harry griped.

"The first time I remember swimming for fun was in the black lake!" Illy laughed.

"Well, you certainly got the most dangerous one there." Harry smiled.

"I always get most dangerous; ever since I was a kid."

"What's the first dangerous thing you did?" Ron asked, excitement building in his eyes.

"I stole Fred's broom one night and somehow ended up in Amsterdam the next morning when I was six." Ginny nodded matter of factly.

"I set a snake free in a zoo." Harry shrugged.

"I used a book from my library back home to build a high intensity light beam that ended up burning a hole in my middle school's gym floor. But I did win science fair!" Hermione offered.

"The first thing I can remember is actually in the hospital after my accident. I sent a scalpel through the wall of my room in order to distract the nurse so that I could climb out the window. I wound up climbing eight stories to the ground. The hospital staff caught me an hour later, I managed to take one of them down but then this burly black guy picked me up by one leg and drug me back inside…What about you Ron?" Illy pushed Ron to speak, hoping that it would rid her slumber party companions of the shocked stares on their faces.

"When I was five I stole Bill's wand and tried to use it set fire to Fred and George…their pranks never did make me laugh much back then." Every one was quiet for a few moments but they had ceased to stare at Illy in disbelief. Instead they were absorbing the stories about their own childhoods along with everyone else's. Ginny began to feel out of place suddenly amongst the older kid around her, and especial around Illy, as Harry had now tangled his fingers into her hand and begun to softly stroke her thumb with his own.

"So, Christmas…what was your favorite Christmas gift ever? Mine was a really amazing fire breathing dragon plush…it actually succeeded in setting Fred and George on fire before mum fixed it. I got it when I was ten." Ginny's over excited voice broke the quit nostalgia, but Harry's grip remained fixed in place.

"I guess my best gifts were just things I've gotten from the lot of you." Harry smiled warmly to his friends and pulled Illy closer to him so that she was leaning on his shoulder.

"Books…of course. I get them every year from relatives." Hermione said proudly.

"I got a practice snitch when I was nine…but we lost it somewhere in the forest…" Ron added with a melancholy note.

"I think my favorite was my present from Snape when I was eleven, he gave me a framed picture of my family and him in Amsterdam. We were all laughing about something except Servius and then I threw a pie at him. My uncle caught the whole thing in the photo."

"What's the story with you two? Why are you so close to that arse anyway?" Ron asked with flaring irritation at the mention of Snape's name. Harry still hadn't noticed Ginny's pensive stare in his direction. He seemed blissfully unaware as he played with Illy's long tresses absentmindedly.

"After the accident my parents had some problems with me. That's when I stopped being able to sleep or eat much of anything. I got a weird sort of head damage, like amnesia but different. My parents said that I didn't act like myself, and that's why they don't like me around a whole lot. I spent all my time being bombarded by tutors and work and all sorts of things like that, just to distract me from their behavior. I understood it, but I guess it bugged me a little anyway. Snape and I sort of clicked really well. We met that year, just a few months after I got out of the hospital, and he called me Ike and I called him Servius and we've been together since then. He's like my godfather, but closer; Sort of a big brother or a second dad really."

"I keep wanting to ask you about that accident, what happened to you anyway?" Harry inquired as he timidly wrapped an arm around Illy's shoulder, forcing her to fully rest her head on his arm.

"I fell two-hundred feet off my broom onto the ground below. My dad used a spell to slow me down, but it only caught a bit of me, so the fall was pretty bad. When I woke up I was a different person…I used to be really shy apparently. I spent two weeks in a coma and when I woke up I was as you see me."

"So you don't know anything about when you were a kid?" Ginny sounded horrified. But it might have been because Harry had just placed a sympathetic kiss in Illy's hair.

"I would still qualify eleven as a kid, but anything before that…nope. I have no idea who my real parents are, what foods I liked, how much I ate, what my favorite toys were, what books I liked, nothing. I can't remember anything about…well anything." Everyone went quiet again. Ron yawned which spread like a disease across the circle and momentarily everyone was yawning and stretching as they all chuckled and snuggled down into their makeshift beds; excluding Illy and Harry who remained softly resting on one another.

"So, what were you like before?" Ron asked through another stifled yawn.

"According to my parents, I was shy and not that interested in books or studies. I did love to ride a broom then too, but I didn't like quidditch. I ate like a pig, loved to cook, played with dolls and stuffies, and I was just generally a normal, really nice, gullible little kid. When I woke up they said it was like I got ten years older, like I thought about things too much, I was convinced the whole world was conspiring against me and I wanted to learn everything I could. I talked to strangers like I was interrogating them and was ready to try and take down anyone who touched me. I hated to be touched for two or three years. I was just generally paranoid for about eighteen months but the touch thing lasted longer, they couldn't even figure out why. But that's just how I was, I wish I could be my old self again sometimes…it would make them happy. Snape is the only person I've heard of that knew me before and likes me better now. Of course whenever I saw someone I was meeting them for the first time so it was odd for my parents' old friends to take on this new kid you know? But Snape just adored me and when I told him who my parents were he freaked out, well as much as he does that, which really only amounts to a raised voice and an arched eyebrow. He was shocked though, that they were my parents, said he didn't care for me much when I was timid." Illy's face was now practically glowing with joy at the thought of Snape's approval. "I do with I could remember my birth parents though. Apparently they were killed in the war. But I still think that I would have remembered something…" Her voice sank back down now, with a sigh she laid her head down like everyone around her had already done. Even Harry had slunk unnoticed into his pillow beside her.

"I'm sure that you would have…I was just a baby, and I remember some things about my parents." Harry's voice carried with it the same immense weight that Illy's did. He seemed broken down inside over the discussion. Minutes went by in silence, only interrupted by Ron's snoring and the light breathing of Hermione and Ginny.

"Servius says they were an odd couple. My mom was more popular and prettier than my dad. He was just a shy nerdy kid and she was this boisterous, intelligent, crazy kid."

"My mom and dad seem perfect for each other. Whenever I remember them, they just fit together in my mind so well." Harry was the only one still awake at this point. Illy expected a situation like this would make her nervous after the events of the afternoon, but she found herself relaxing, confident that the subject at hand was just as sacred to Harry as it was to her.

"I think I got better adoptive parents than you did though. Not quite so…narrow minded. Though in a way neither of them can stand us I guess. Sometimes it feels like I killed their daughter or something you know; like I didn't really exist in their lives until the accident."

"Trust me, if I could kill off Duddly I would." Illy laughed softly. "He's like a giant inflated angry monkey or something."

"That would make him more like a gorilla I believe Harry."

"S'pose so…I think that your mum must have been beautiful."

"Snape says she was, but who knows, maybe I got the good looks from my dad." Harry laughed this time.

"Illy…"

"Yeah Harry?"

"I'm glad that you're you now. I mean, well y'know, just that I'm happy you're you as opposed to being whomever you were before the accident."

"Thanks Harry, I'm glad other people are grateful for it too. I was beginning to think I was the only one who saw the old Killious as quite a bore."

"She would have been nothing compared to you. You're one of a kind, and I love it."

"Thanks Harry, so are you." Illy faked a yawn to end the conversation and closed her eyes. She fell asleep a few minutes later, which when she looked back on it, probably wasn't the best of ideas in her current company, as she had forgotten to cast a silencing charm…


	29. 28 I said no

AN: After the last two chapters being smaller I decided that something longer was in order

AN: After the last two chapters being smaller I decided that something longer was in order. Hopefully the quick update will make everyone happy. I hope you all enjoy, R&R –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 28

_The room was surprisingly less horrifying when she wasn't cold. Hypothermia was one of leering beasts that could turn an unhealthy situation into a situation that leaves you dead. Ever since Sir's son had come, she had carefully taken out the jacket whenever she had a chance. The girl could hardly bare to take the coat back off whenever she thought she heard shuffling on the stairs. Her days seemed more exhausting now, she always felt tired in the warmth of young Sir's jacket, but she had to be even more attentive. The girl had to listen, just inches from the door, straining her ears for the sound of a house elf or Sir himself. _

_She heard the clanging sound of the doorknob at the top of the stairs. The girl launched herself from her spot by the door and slid the jacket off, stuffing it quickly in an alcove of brick in the wall. She had clawed the spot out with her bare hands, scraping through the layers of plaster and paint that the east wall had been fully covered in. Her nails were still caked in chalky filth, but the dried plaster had at least sped up the coagulation in her nails, so the bleeding subsided quickly. She nimbly headed back for her normal spot on the floor, and waited. _

_Sir came through the door moments later; she knew it was him when the door slammed against the stone wall behind it as it was opened. She shuddered lightly as Sir stood in front of her. His eyes were blazing with furry, and at the same time, she felt like he was happy to be just where he was. His lips curved into a smooth, thin smile. She could recall now how much his son's lips looked the same when he smiled, it made her gag. She swallowed the bile without hesitation, though her throat audibly hissed in pain. Sir's thin smile stretched further as he snatched the girl's throat and pulled her to her feet by it. She was still heads shorter than he was. She stared intently at his hands, he usually didn't speak as much as he did point, or force._

_"We had a talk last time…Now I think you should do what we agreed." His voice was quivering with excitement. She nodded, _

"_Please Sir…I-I W-want you to…" But she couldn't finish the sentence. _

"_You want me to what?" His patience was waning already. _

"_Please…I don't know what to say, p-please, just tell me what you want me to say." She begged him. His smile dissipated instantly. She closed her eyes just in time for the back of his hand to strike her face. She stumbled back a step but then recovered and stood to face Sir head on again. _

"_I know that you enjoy the things I do, so ask for them. You're just a sex crazed little slut so don't play coy with me." She nodded and took in a deep breath of preparation for the thorough breaking of her spirit. _

"_Sir, I want you to…I want you to be in me…" She waited, hoping the words were enough for him, she hadn't exactly gone through classes on terminology, and she was sure that no words as dignified as sex were going to appease this man. She approximated that she had been here for more that two years, so it was only logical reasoning that she hadn't learned about much of anything in those years. How could he expect her to have a sudden expansive vocabulary of aggressive sex terms? _

"_I said beg, don't think that I would give you something you want so quickly." She looked up into his eyes with a pleading desperate expression. _

"_Please! Please Sir, do whatever you want! Just please do it now!" She was frantic. _

"_Fine then, I'll give you want you want so desperately, you disgusting whore." He grasped both of her shoulders and shoved her to her knees, efficiently breaking open the skin of both knees on the hard floors. She gasped at the pain but held still. _

_Sir unzipped his pants but didn't move to force the girl to her back. He just grinned again. _

"_I have a special surprise for you today, because you want me so badly…you do want me don't you?" _

"_Yes Sir, very much! Please!" The words were like poison to her mouth, but dignity and pride had died long ago in this place. She had nothing but survival instinct left._

"_Then open your mouth." She closed her eyes; he was in her mouth moments later, choking her brutally. It took less than a second for the thought to form, just enough time to remember that she had someone who would try to help her in this house. Her jaw clamped down, not hard, but hard enough. She knew she would most likely be caught, so she had to be sure that she didn't do any permanent damage, if she did…she would never put her new coat on again, or see young Sir. _

_Sir had shoved her head away already by the time she finished her thought; and she was already heading for the door. Her plan had a flaw. The door was closed, and heavy enough that it took her a good forty seconds to get it open. She stopped just outside the door, more flaws in planning. She had to think about which direction the stairs where in. By the time her foot was on the first step he had his hands around her throat. She screamed._

"Illy! ILLY! Wake up." Harry shook Illy violently. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Wha? Harry?" Illy felt horribly disoriented, she had been having the dreams as usual, but now Harry was inches from her face, skin clammy, white, and a cold sweat breaking out over his skin.

"Illy are you okay?" She couldn't tell if he was crying, but his voice was shaking like he was. He was clearly terrified.

"I'm fine Harry, why are you shaking me?"

"Illy, you were screaming, you woke us all up. We didn't know what to do, we couldn't wake you up! What one earth were you dreaming about?" Illy's mind leapt into motion, her groggy instincts giving way to trying to come up with something to say. Enough people knew about her dreams as it was, she didn't need to tell everyone in the damn school.

"My fall…sometimes I dream its happening again. It always frightens me some."

"Oh, okay…" He seemed relieved and nodded to everyone to lay down again, they did so with silent horror stricken looks still painted on their faces. Harry embraced her suddenly, crushing her small body against his. "Do you want to sleep next to me for the rest of the night?" But he left no time for her to answer. He was already unfolding his blanket so that it would cover both of them. "Here, just come lay down." Illy nodded, slipping back into her sleepy daze. She slid comfortable into his arms, resting her head on her pillow again. Harry was snoring in moments, but she took the time to silence her own voice before nodding off.

_"What am I supposed to do now? Rip out your teeth? That would take care of the problem, you'd never bite me again bitch!" Sir started pulling fiercely on the girl's front teeth. But he let them go and shook her like a rag doll. "Or should I just make sure you never run away again? I think knowing your place might encourage you to be grateful for what I let you enjoy." He dropped her limp body to the ground and kicked her in the ribs. She could hear the small crack; he only broke one this time. The house elves usually fixed broken ribs. He walked around her still body and reoriented his foot. A violent, solid force shook her face. She could feel her teeth shift in her mouth, and the coppery taste of blood followed. She tried to clamp her jaw tightly as the shock wore off. She could do nothing though, the pain was too much, her jaw felt shattered, her teeth were now in her mouth loosely, and her nose was a different shape all together. Her whelping squeal shook her body. Blood pooled like thick syrup in combination with her snot and saliva. The thick warm liquid stuck to her face and worked its way through bits of her hair that were stuck between her cheek and the floor. _

"_Shut the fuck up!" Sir let his foot rest over her mangled face. "That mouth is nothing but trouble, and you'll need to keep it closed!" He shifted some of his body's weight to his foot, making her gasp in pain. She could feel the bones in her face reorienting under the pressure. He removed his foot and smiled. "That should fix your nasty biting problem." _

_"Now to make sure you don't go running off again." Sir walked to the door and pulled it open with ease. He returned to the girl and grabbed her by her leg, letting her head bounce lightly on the stones of the floor, leaving the thick blood mixture to pass more thoroughly through her hair. He put one of her legs in the way of the door, like a jamb. He swung the door fully open. The realization of what he planned to do hit her, _

_"No please Sir, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll never do it again, please, please don't!" The door came smashing against her leg. The crack reverberated through her body. She lifted her head from the ground to look at the damage, the thickness and angle of the door way seemed to prevent the break from snapping the bone totally, there was blood, but more than anything there was just unbearable pain. She passed out after a few seconds of delirious intake of Sir's laughter, the pain was too much. _

Illy shot up from her bed, the dream was the worst she had seen in the respects of torture. She instinctively un-silenced herself and immediately began to feel her face for any deformities or fractures. Upon finding that her face was fine she then checked her leg. It too seemed whole. Normally she wasn't so eager to check for damage, some mornings she didn't even feel that she had to, but this was different, it was somehow worse. She glanced at the floor around her, everyone was gone except for Harry, who was just waking up. She felt guilty, she had undoubtedly been the cause of his rousing; she guessed that the absence of witnesses was his doing, but she could only speculate as to his plans behind the disappearances.

"Did you sleep better this time?" He asked after he let out a loud yawn.

"Yeah…a little bit I did…" She smiled sheepishly. He was in a calm mood. That was good.

"You still look tired, d'you want to sleep a bit longer?" He asked, softly pulling her back into his arms, where she had spent the night. She was stiff in his grasp, but did her best to convince herself she needed to remain calm and not do anything that he would make her regret. She was trying to think about Harry as she usually did, but Draco's warnings were ringing in her ears.

"No, I think I should get up, I want to see everyone off." She turned in his arms to face him with a bright smile. He let out a small laugh.

"Illy, it's still early, we don't have to leave for hours, and really we're not even leaving so why worry about it? Everyone just went down to get some breakfast."

"Ginny's leaving, and my friends…" She mumbled. Harry ignored her and reached a hand around the back of her head. She tried to fight his hand as it pulled her face closer without being noticed. Harry's brow furrowed and he used more strength.

"I-I want to go get some breakfast Harry." He seemed to think about leaving her alone but decided against it in the end.

"They're bringing something up for you Illy." He pulled her face so close she could feel his sharp breath on her lips. She put her hands onto his chest forcefully, putting a fractional amount of distance between them.

"I'm not comfortable with this Harry!" He ignored her and pushed her hands back down to her sides. His eyes closed and his face inched forward. She panicked as he moved closer, racking her brain for a good excuse.

"I have to go see Draco!" Harry's eyes opened and his grip released, his mood had changed instantly. His eyes were livid, as she pushed the blanket off of her body.

Illy moved quickly from her spot on the floor next to Harry towards the door, almost running headfirst into Ron, who had just returned from the great hall with a pile of toast and a banana.

"Where'r you going in such a hurry?" He asked, slightly bothered by her flustered behavior.

"To her other man!" Harry snapped from across the room. Illy just pushed past Ron, who was tailed my Hermione and stormed towards the staircase. She could still hear everyone talking through the portrait as she descended the staircase in a hurry. In her rush she almost got stuck in a false step, but pulled herself out with a banister and continued towards the next set of stairs, loosing their voices in the distance.

As she started on her second flight of stairs she realized that running off to Draco right now probably wouldn't be a good plan, he would manage to get the story out of her and then he would probably try to kill Harry and a large fight between houses would ensue based solely on the fact that she couldn't keep her moth shut, and neither of her male friends could control themselves. She shook her head to clear the though of war breaking out in the halls from her mind, she needed to find somewhere else to go.

"Harry, what just happened?" Hermione asked in a scalding tone. "When we left everything was fine, what did you do?"

"Nothing Herm! I didn't do a thing! She just up and ran off saying she needed to talk to Malfoy." Harry was now outwardly pouting and inwardly plotting. His mounting frustration with Draco's attempts at wooing Illy had reached a pinnacle, and her loyalties to him were nothing shy of infuriating.

"So's she dating that jerk?" Ron asked indignantly.

"No she's not, and if it wasn't for him she would probably be dating me. He's just trying to get her because he knows I really care about her." Harry's explanation softened Hermione's expression, just as he had hoped that it would.

"Harry, I'm sure that she really does just want to see him off, and even Draco wouldn't take someone you love just so that he could."

"In Illy's case he would. Have you seen the way he looks at her?" Ron turned to Hermione before stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Well…he's just protective of her, they are really close friends."

"You don't see Ron looking at her like that." Harry quipped.

"But…well…I suppose you're right. But don't be too harsh Harry." Hermione's concerned tone calmed Harry just slightly.

"Jacky!" Illy called to him just before he went into the great hall. "Come take a walk with me…please!" He smiled at her knowingly and locked arms with her when she reached to bottom of the stairs before heading towards the door.

The lawns were dusted in sparkling snow and a majority of the trees on the grounds were now barren as the duo walked towards the lake, hand in hand, looking expectantly into it's thinly iced over surface, as though it could solve their problems. A crack formed across the icy barrier, followed by a tentacle breaking through the ice and grabbing at a deer that had braved the lake. It slipped beneath the water with no sounds of anguish or surprise. The scene seemed oddly natural and almost humorous to Illy as she took a seat on a log.

"So, what happened?" Jackquinn inquired as he sat next to her.

"Harry tried to kiss me…and I had another bad dream…and I told Harry that I had to leave so that I could talk to Draco…and I woke everyone up screaming on accident."

"Nice bit of 'and's in there huh? Tell me about Harry first."

"Well last night they woke me up because I was screaming and Harry sort of drug me under the blanket with him so that I could sleep better, but when I woke up things were a bit awkward. He had managed to get everyone to go down to breakfast and leave us alone together. So, then h- "

"Have I ever told you I think he's really creepy?" Jackquinn interrupted with a thoughtful smile.

"Don't interrupt, it gets creepier…He tried to kiss me," Illy shuddered visibly at the memory, "and I kept giving him reasons why I wanted to leave, or why we needed to get up, but he just kept making excuses and getting closer to me. I even tried to tell him that I had to go and see everyone off but by that point he was so close to me that I was starting to get a little bit scared," Illy strained to explain the situation, all the while feeling guilty on some level about being on Draco's side concerning Harry for once. "he was really freaking me out with how pushy he was being-"

"Harry Potter was about to rape your ass, I'd get freaked out too, stop sounding so guilty about it."

"Shut up Jacky, you're making it worse" She complained. "…Anyway, I finally came out and told him that I was uncomfortable, but he completely ignores me! I don't understand how he could just go on like I hadn't even told him to stop, but he did, so I pushed him away. I mean I physically put my hands against his chest and tried to make him stop!…He just grabbed my wrists and kept trying to bloody kiss me! I couldn't think of anything else I could say or do, and I panicked…So finally I told him that I needed to talk to Draco. Then he just sort of let me go. It was eerie, you should have seen the look he gave me, he was furious but he just let me walk away, and said something to Ron and Herm about me running off to my other man. I couldn't believe it…" Illy dropped her eyes to her feet and leaned on Jackquinn's shoulder.

"So wait, you're surprised at what part of this?" His voice was sarcastic and entirely unsympathetic.

"Jacky, you are so unhelpful right now!"

"Well, I'm sorry but I'm kind of having problems of my own…"

"Like what, pray tell?"

"It's just that…Dolan has a new girlfriend…sort of…its some weird guy thing, but the point is that I was…well…"

"Jealous?" Illy guessed dryly.

"Yeah…it was weird. You have to understand that I wasn't even jealous when Clause was screwing around with other people. But this was different. I just wanted to walk up to that bitch on his lap and punch her front teeth in and yell 'Hands off my man!'" Jackquinn jumped up suddenly in an animated display of his proposed reaction.

"I never would have thought that you'd be jealous before him." Illy chuckled in amazement.

"Well what do you expect? He tells me that this is about Christian and then he runs off and starts snogging that bimbo in the common room right in front of me! Stupid hussy!" Jacky was now shouting and his cheeks burned red, but Illy couldn't contain herself.

"Calm down!" Illy was actually finding the scene so comedic that she had forgotten entirely about Harry and had started laughing at Jacky. He frowned at her, clearly irritated with her attitude regarding his boy troubles..

"It's not funny. I really don't know what this means?"

"It means that you, my good sir, have fallen for a pureblooded, snot nosed, rich, Slytherin, homophobic, gay, who can't come to terms with his sexuality on his own."

"Great, that makes life easy now doesn't it?" Jacky plopped back into his seat with his arms crossed and his lip pushed out as though he were a child pouting.

"On the plus side he didn't try to molest your mouth." Illy grinned at him.

"Yeah but Christian is too important to him…and I don't think he realizes that this won't be like a normal boyfriend girlfriend thing. I'm not just going to do what he says because he's the boy. I mean sure, I'm younger, but I know more about these things than he does and who knows if something like my being domineering will throw him off entirely?"

"It'll be fine, you just need to tell him…and break up with your boyfriend. That might be what started his whole girlfriend jealousy game he's playing at."

"You don't think that he's really jealous of me and Clause do you? We were nothing to envy as far as a relationship goes."

"What do you mean 'were'?"

"I broke up with him two days ago…he was with that bloody drummer again." Jacky mumbled the last part, as though it was unimportant and irrelevant.

"Oh…I didn't realize."

"Don't worry about it, it's honestly best. I was sick of him any way. And Dolan is a better kisser." He smiled and licked his lips dramatically.

"Good to know, the next time I want to fantasize about gay men I'll be sure to pick Dolan over Clause." Jacky laughed and looked down at his watch.

"We should start back. Tell me about your dream." He took Illy's hand and helped her from the log.

"Oh…that. The girl just tried to get away, and it didn't end well. He kicked in her teeth and crushed her leg in a door…but she did bite him when he tried to force her to give him oral. So I guess that's a plus or something right?" Jacky winced at the thought.

"I don't know who endured more pain on that one…So it woke you up screaming?"

"No, Harry woke me up. My own screams don't bother me anymore. I just usually remember to use a silencing charm and I didn't."

"I see…shit, my mums are here, I have to go." Jacky sighed and pointed to the two women ahead, who had arrived with a ministry escort.

"I'll walk you." Killious offered as they climbed the hill ahead.

Jackquinn's mothers were gorgeous. One was tall and tan with black hair that reached her waste. Her big brown eyes sparkled lovingly as she looked down at Jacky while he walked. She was a bit thicker than her wife, but not fat. Illy could see the makings of a small belly beneath her floral print dress. The long-sleeved article was made of thick yellow fabric speckled in peach colored flowers that contrasted with her skin. She smoothed her skirt and tightened the white bow that had been tied to the front of her dress. She kissed her shorter partner and smiled again at Jacky, as though she was about to burst in anxious excitement. The other woman was probably a head shorter than her counterpart and sixty pounds lighter, with wispy blond curls and pale skin. They looked like harlequinne's of one another. She wore a low cut red silk top that basically put her breasts into a picture frame to showcase them. Her thick black jacket looked to be the only thing of substantial weight on her. She couldn't have been more than one hundred pounds, and she looked like she was freezing in her tight black business pants. She too smiled, but it was a bit more strained. Illy could tell she wanted to get out of the cold, or maybe just off the grounds.

"Tatiana! Michelle!" Jacky squealed in delight as he embraced both of the women with a strong hug. They laughed a smiled back.

"We 'ave mizzed you so mooch!" The blond exclaimed. This must have been where the escapades to France came from.

"I have been counting the days when I would see my little Jacky again!" The brunette was starting to tear. The family was obviously close. They looked at Jacky like he couldn't have belonged more if one of them had given birth to him themselves. Illy felt a pang of jealously. Her own parents even looked like her and appeared totally normal by sexual orientation standards, but they could barely hug her, and here was Jacky, black as the night in comparison to the blond, and clearly not a child they could have possibly produced, and they were crying with joy when they saw him. Jacky stood back from the women and pulled Illy closer by her hand.

"Michelle, Tatiana, this is Illy, she's my dearest friend here! We're going to abduct her a bit this summer." Jacky smiled and presented Illy to the women. The blond shook her hand immediately,

"I am Michelle, eet iz so nize to meet you. We are 'appy zat Jackeey iz making friendz 'ere." The brunette was less swift to accept Illy's presence at the reunion.

"You must be Tatiana…" Illy tried, but the woman was silent.

"Mum please, she's not going to bite you. She's been great to me, she's even stuck up for me to the other kids, please be nice." Jacky pleaded and the woman finally, reluctantly, shook Illy's hand.

"Tatiana bakes and Michelle runs the bakery's finances. So they send me packages as a duo." Jacky explained.

"I see, in that case I think that I should be your new best friend, your pastries are amazing." Illy's compliment finally encouraged the woman to give a large smile.

"My love, she iz so shy sometimez, and she iz alwayz worried zat our Jackeey will be 'urt or boolied." Michelle explained as she walked towards the ministry escort.

"Well, if anyone lays a finger on Jacky I'll bust 'em up." Illy joked and made dramatic gestures as though she were boxing someone. "I'll see you soon okay? Have a good Christmas." Illy pulled Jacky in tightly for a hug. "Send Dolan an owl, please." She whispered in his ear before letting him climb into the carriage that his parents had arrived in.

"I'll see you Illy." He smiled and waved to her. Illy watched the carriage take off before heading back for the school, with little hope for a less than chaotic day.

She looked back towards the castle, sighing at the walk ahead of her; she might not even make it back in time to see anyone before they left. Jacky's side trip had taken her towards Hagrid's and the fresh snow was a pain to walk through. She stuffed her hands into her coat's pockets and started to trudge.

She had made it only a few feet from the forest when she noticed a group of dementors ahead. Draco hadn't let a soul in the school go without telling them about Harry's fearful reaction to the beasts, which made her hesitant to go anywhere near them. But she had little other choice, so she hooked widely to the left of the pair and continued to walk slowly. She did her best not to dwell on their presence, as her paranoia seemed to be convincing her that one of them was headed directly for her, but distracting herself by looking at the bits of foliage poking through the snow wasn't very effective. In fact, upon looking again she could swear that the dementor was now swiftly closing the distance between them at an alarming rate.

Her skin began to feel tight and warm, making her stomach gurgle lightly in reaction. She clutched it to try and keep it quiet, but it seemed to be of no use as the dementor was only a few feet away at this point. Her legs suddenly began to feel anxious, a feeling that spread through her entire body in a matter of seconds. It was as though all of her skin was crawling with tiny insects that were pushing her to move. She felt like the needed to roll around in the snow or take off running just to cool herself and release the antsy urges. The dementor stopped one foot from her now motionless figure and oriented itself so that if it had eyes it would have been staring directly at her. She froze, the once hot feeling was now burning up her skin, but some of the anxious compulsion had actually died down, in fact she could feel her stomach calming. The dementor lingered a moment, as though it was confused by her presence. After a few seconds that seemed to be more like hours passed, it floated by her slowly. Its tattered cloak brushing her cheek lightly as it passed. Illy's desire to run came back, and now she chose not to ignore it. She took off towards the castle; resisting the urge to look back over her shoulder for fear that another dementor would catch up with her, and not be quite so lenient or oblivious, whichever it was.


	30. 29 The winter games

AN: This will be the third night in a row that I've updated, and I must put it out there that I'm very proud of myself, and appreciative to Vienne who keeps me on task all the time

AN: This will be the third night in a row that I've updated, and I must put it out there that I'm very proud of myself, and appreciative to Vienne who keeps me on task all the time. (At the expense of her own entertainment, as I've recently taken to living with her, and as such spend hours a day writing and virtually ignoring my poor dear.) So here comes another, rather long chapter, that marks the 125 page on Microsoft word I've typed. Please leave me some reviews everyone, and thank you again to faithful readers.

–Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 29

The great hall still hadn't cleared from the trickle of students who had been stopping in for a bit of toast before running off to find someone or pack something. Illy sighed in relief, as she would still be able to wish her friends a good holiday, despite her odd run in with the dementors just a few moments beforehand. She headed first towards her own dorms, ignoring the fact that she was still pajama clad in flannel pants borrowed from Ron and a thick tan sweater borrowed from Hermione. Her converse sneakers squelched loudly beneath her feet in protest to their now soaking wet state and the rubber soles squeaked whenever she didn't pick her foot up just right, but aside from the glances people gave her disheveled appearance she seemed to not even notice how queer she must have looked.

The common room was surprisingly messy, being strewn with people clothing and books, and even more surprisingly packed with people as they searched for objects they had left and gave out quick hugs. It seemed as though no one had thought of packing before this moment in time, but most of the crowd was first year students with an ample mixture of just plain forgetful goon looking types like Crabbe and Goyle. Illy waved at the two but was uninterested in actually wishing them a farewell, and instead decided to get straight to her human destinations in the easiest way possible. And so with a smile Illy headed for the boys dorm.

"CHRISTIAN! DOLAN! BLAISE! DRACO!" She called from the hall, paying special attention to resist the urge to just have a go around peaking into each of the doors. Moments later three shirtless, trouserless, and trunkless boys appeared with broad grins and open arms. Illy paid no mind to the fact that the boys not only were in nothing but boxers, but also seemed to have just crawled from their beds, and instead she collided with Dolan's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I'm going to miss you so much over break Dolan!" She said in a meaningful but not excessive way. He smiled and kissed her once on the forehead. "You should owl Jacky too…which means if you don't I'll have your balls." She winked at his now grimacing face and gave Blaise a small hug next. "I'll see you soon." Was all he said to her. They were silent friends in the way that they didn't exactly appreciate one another or even talk, but as all their friends were rather close to the both of them, they behaved. Where Illy might have liked to gut Blaise like a fish, she only smiled and waved as he left for his packing again. She always got bad feelings about him…

"Alright, now I'm feeling just plain neglected and I don't think that a hug will do it." Christian smiled devilishly at Illy, who in turn threw two arms around his neck at giggled.

"What would do it?" She asked when he released her again.

"I don't know?...but you are the woman whom I always have scandalous affairs with, so you could give me a good bye fuck." He suggested triumphantly. Illy and Dolan laughed at his now heroic pose.

"I'll see you when you get back Christian." She finished and turned to leave. Christian playfully slapped her bum as she walked away and only winked in the face of her clearly irritated looks. Before she reached the stairs she stopped though, realizing something very important had not been present in her goodbyes.

"Where's Draco?" Both boys dropped their smiles and began to scratch their heads.

"Umm, funny thing see…" Christian began. Apparently their head scratching was not indicating their lack of an answer, but more their lack of a way to present the answer at hand.

"His mum and da' showed up early to get him..." Dolan continued.

"But he did send his best wishes…" Christian alternated yet again,

"And uh…" Dolan looked to his companion desperately.

"This." Christian finished before stepping forward to plant a kiss on Illy's lips. She was silent for three or four seconds, only taking in sharp breaths.

"Did he actually kiss you?" She finally asked.

"Bloody hell! Of course he didn't do you think we're some kind of ninny couple or bullocks like that?" Christian exploded, making Dolan shudder and drop his gaze to the floor.

"So what, he just said kiss Illy for me and tell her I say g'bye and best wishes, just to piss her off?"

"Actually…yeah, it was real funny, he was laughing at the thought."

"Yeah? Well if you see him over break make sure you tell him that Harry pulled the same thing this morning and I didn't think it was funny then either!" She crossed her arms and put out a pouting lip, impersonating Jackquinn's expression from earlier that morning to the best of her ability. Dolan and Christian began to chuckle.

"Aw calm down Ill's it's nuffin' to worry about so don't get your knickers in a twist." Christian slapped her on the shoulder and waited for her to laugh with them. But she stood silent with her pouting expression for several moments longer…

"Actually, I can't get my knickers in a twist…I haven't got any on." She smiled and flipped her hair before turning to leave, leaving both boys half laughing and half confused.

"She really is something isn't she?" Christian asked Dolan as they headed back to their rooms.

"Yeah, she's going to give Draco a run for his money."

"Good thing he's got plenty of it."

"No, it's a good thing I made us pack last night, or we would be up with all these shmucks throwing things in trunks like maniacs and not sleeping."

"D'you think Draco'll be mad when he finds out I threw that last bit in there."

"Nah, he'll laugh…or break your leg, but either way, I'll laugh."

"Guess it was worth it either way though, just to see that ticked off look on her face."

"Almost like the first time she kissed you."

"Shut up!" Christian shoved Dolan into a fellow student and threw himself onto his bed.

"So he just left without so much of a goodbye?" Hermione asked Illy under her breath. Illy smiled at Harry who was still engaged in discussion with Ron, just to make sure he wouldn't be paying attention.

"Yep, just left Dolan and Christian to say 'goodbye, best wishes and kiss me'"

"Wow…what a jerk."

"Not really, it's just how Draco is. He likes to be dramatic and overly romantic about nothing. It's in his blood I guess, have you ever seen his house, its ridiculous. Besides the kiss was more like a private joke, so in a way, is was funny."

"Did you send him an owl to tell him how thick headed he was?"

"Nope, I'm enjoying only having to keep up with five friends at the moment. Besides six days isn't even all that long." Illy smiled and closed the book in front of her. "We should get to dinner before these two get us kicked out again." She suggested as she nodded towards Ron who was now yelling about the validity of a snitch in a world cup from several years ago, as it was really just a bewitched gold lump, and not a genuine snitch.

"It shouldn't have counted!" He snapped at Harry who just shook his head.

"Ron, if it passed the referees without anyone making a fuss, then it's legal" Harry argued as Illy pulled him from his seat. He stood up without much fuss, taking the moment as a queue to keep his hand in hers.

"Besides, the snitch replacement was one hundred percent goblin gold and if you've ever read _The Making of a Game_ you would know that Snitch's are considered genuine as long as they are properly bewitched and made of pure gold." Illy said with a triumphant look.

"What are you, the Hermione of sports?" Ron asked with irritation. Harry just shook his head and stepped ahead of the pair to talk to Hermione all the way to the great hall. Illy took Harry's place in the row with Ron and was doing a much better and more spirited job of presenting her side of the argument.

"Look Ron, rules are rules and just because your team got their tales whipped doesn't mean that you can pout about it for five whole years! You probably weren't even at the game!" She exclaimed in exasperation as the two stopped to fight just in side the door of the great hall. Ron screwed up his face indignantly and continued the argument, even though Christmas carols were now playing and it was hard to fight over such a serene and jovial ruckus.

"But the snitch was never officially weighed, meaning that its size could have been larger or smaller than and normal snitch."

"Ron the bewitching is applied per millimeter of gold, so it wouldn't mater! Each snitch becomes proportionally faster or slower in pace with size and diameter." The carols were now roaring in the air obnoxiously as people in the hall turned to watch the two's quarrel.

"Who cares if a snitch is a few kilometers slower, if the thing is so small you can't even see it anymore? That's just not fair!" Ron shouted over the song.

"But they could see it you dunce! Someone caught it so obviously you could see it! Are you going to claim that the seeker had paranormal abilities and those should be outlawed too?" Illy's voice strained to be heard over the freakishly loud singing.

"But Williams' hands are bigger than Oschlerts' were!" Ron screamed back indignantly, though mostly it just sounded like he was screaming in general as the singing had gotten so loud no one in the hall could not look, or gawk rather at the fiery duo. Illy had, had enough. She stomped her foot loudly and screamed as loud as she could, her body shaking with frustration as she hollered over the carols violently.

"What in the bloody hell is that friggin' noise!?" Everyone in the hall pointed up above her head with a unified and slightly creepy motion. Just above her, pinned neatly to the decorative ribbons, where a few little pieces of mistletoe; which were bellowing out a Christmas tune with vigorous insistence. "How do I get it to shut the hell up?" She screamed once again. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Fred and George grinning like fools. Fred made a kissing face and pointed at Ron rather than burning out his voice on yelling. Ron's face went scarlet but Illy ignored it entirely, choosing the good of mankind's ears over Ron's embarrassment. She put a neat little kiss on Ron's cheek, but the singing didn't so much as slow pace for a breath. She turned back to Fred who was sporting a still larger smile. He pointed mischievously to his lips, and then George made a few obscene tongue motions that Illy chose to ignore with bleak hope that they were not necessarily mandatory.

"You're shitting me." She said before turning to Ron again and this time placing a small kiss on his lips. Ron's face was now so red he looked at though his head was going to explode, or his ears were going to issue forth a generous amount of steam in a cartoon like motion. But they did no such thing and everyone just took their seats, grateful for the break in noise, everyone that is except Harry and Hermione, who seemed inexplicably upset by the whole scene.

"Who would have put up such a horrible thing? Even more, who would have _made_ such a thing! It's preposterous!" Hermione began. Ron and Illy sat down next to each other, but Hermione managed to squeeze herself into the inch and a half between the two, and Harry motioned for Illy to come sit next to him.

"Well we did of course!" Both of the twins sang out proudly.

"What do you think Illy?" Fred began,

"It's the prototype." George finished.

"I think its smashing! Just a bit too loud, and doesn't it sing more than one carol? You need to fix that. Also, if it could make some sort of announcement after a few moments as to who was standing under the mistletoe so that you could avoid such a loud scene…" Illy started suggesting.

"How can you be trying to help them?" Harry snapped incredulously.

"Easy, that was hysterical!" Ron chuckled. "Well…now it is, at the moment it was a bit mortifying, but I think that that's just a volume issue, you might want to start out slower and not get quite so loud."

"Yeah, bringing it down a decibel or so is something we thought of." George informed.

"Haven't you been in trouble for those horrible things yet?" Hermione jutted a thumb at the door as two more students stood baffled beneath the once again singing mistletoe.

"Oi! Just kiss, you're under the mistletoe!" Fred shouted. The music stopped before George could even begin answering Hermione's question.

"Nah, Dumbledore loves 'em, thinks they add to holiday spirit. Asked us to make a whole bunch of them to be put up every year 'round the castle!"

"That's ridiculous." Harry muttered.

"All in good fun." Illy nodded at Fred, who seemed bewildered, until he turned to see an approaching Snape. He then realized that the message was not for himself, but instead for the nearing teacher.

"Miss Enquirous, if you cannot keep your public displays of affection to a minimum I will have to take points from my own house, and that's something I rather loathe." He started.

"It's Dumbledore approved Servius, er, Professor Snape, I mean." She smiled and winked.

"Ah yes, the singing garbage behind that out of place nonsense," Snape narrowed his eyes on Fred and George. "If I find so much as ONE of those obnoxious leaves in my dungeons, I will have you expelled." He snapped viciously.

"But we don't have control of that, the house elves are putting them up, not us." Fred whined.

"Well then, you had better hope that they are smarter than the two of you." Snape half shouted before turning to leave.

The mood of the table shifted uncomfortable around Illy, who still wore a smile. Everyone was now seething with frustration of one kind or another, whether it be jealousy or indignation.

"Oh he's just grumpy, just get something to eat, I'll talk to him later." Illy offered as she started scooping out servings of a not so festive shepherd's pie. She was just about to serve herself some of the dish when she had a change of heart and instead took a pile of greens. It looked like Fred and George were about to tease her due to her choice in food, but they were interrupted by the sound of carols and a round of clapping as Lupin and Hagrid came walking through the door of the great hall. Everyone in the room stood to laugh when the two gave utterly befuddled looks at the suggestion of their kissing. It took even longer for the two of them to follow through with the act than it had taken Ron and Illy, but in the end they had to give in and the entire hall erupted in laughter, including Dumbledore, who gave the scene a standing ovation. The table's mood was lifted again from that point on and the meal was spent alternating between discussions about nothing, and laughing at the unsuspecting victims who came in the door and were uninformed enough to stop and talk there.

"It only works if you stop for at least two seconds, you know, just to be fair." Fred explained as they all quite swiftly ducked out of the hall.

"Alright, well I'm going to go change, and then I'll meet you all outside for a quick match. Hermione, you'll have to play or the teams won't be even!" Illy complained to the brunette and she stopped by the dungeon stairs.

"Illy I'm not playing any sort of quidditch match with anyone, and especially not to settle a bet over who could eat more pudding when you could just eat the damned pudding to determine who could eat the most!" Hermione said with exasperation. Since they had seen Dean Thomas put down four servings of pudding half way through the meal no one could stop fighting about who could eat more, Illy or Ron. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione did believe that Ron would undoubtedly win, Fred, George, and Illy maintained that Illy could secretly out eat everyone present, even though their assumptions had no references to speak of.

"Hermione, this is more than just a match about pudding, this is a match about whether assumptions or facts are more reliable? Are you really going to let facts be shunned and left in the cold, just to have assumption win because it has more players?" Ron challenged. Hermione looked down at the ground for a moment, playing with her fingers.

"Well…well I guess, in a way it is in the namesake of education and scientific method isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, whatever you say." Harry nodded.

"Oh, alright, lets go get changed." Hermione said, and everyone started to rush towards their dorms.

Fifteen minutes later the group had made it out to a clear stretch of lawn, brooms in hand, and warm but not too thick clothing, due to the fact that their activities would leave them sweating in a mater of moments if they had sweaters on.

"Ok, so no rushing, no bludgers to the head especially since we're only playing with the one and it could kind of slow the game down, and that tree there," George said point forward "And that tree there," He said orienting himself in the opposite direction, "Are the goals, now just to clear up teams, who thinks that Illy could out eat Ron?" He asked. Fred and Illy moved to stand next to him.

"Wait, you've got three members of house quidditch teams! How's that fair?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Well Ronny, you could eat an entire home and Illy can barely stomach a muffin, so shut up!" Fred retorted. Illy smiled and threw a leg over her broom.

"Now, if _Ron _doesn't have problems with it we're not going to use an authentic snitch…or quaffle, or anything else for that matter. In fact, why don't we just go ahead and change point values for the kicks of it, first to ten, snitch is worth ten and each regular score is one." Illy said, pulling a tough looking volleyball, a softball, and a ping pong ball from her jacket. Ron rolled his eyes and shook his head to give an ok.

"Alright, we went with the volleyball mostly for Hermione's sake, can't be beating her brains out with a real bludger if it's her first time." Illy chuckled, but Hermione just gave her a nervous look and bit her lip. "And now, I'll do the honors, if you'd hold the snitch still George." She said handing him the ping pong ball. He sniggered but clasped the little plastic ball tightly in his hand to keep it from flying away when it was bewitched. Illy took turns bewitching each ball slowly and then instructed everyone to straddle their broom after taking the make shift snitch back from George.

"On your marks, get set, go!" She shouted, just after releasing the snitch.

Everyone was in the air in seconds, except Hermione who was sort of just floating about two feet off the ground and ducking at the sight of anyone dipping, or any balls coming near her. Fred had the volleyball flying for her within seconds but Ron managed to divert it, and sent it towards Harry so that he could use it, but he seemed to be trying to decide if he should chase the snitch or try and score a couple of points using the softball, but Illy had chosen for him by nearly knocking him off his broom in swift pursuit of the snitch. Harry jumped onto the tail of her broom emphatically, but he was distractedly suddenly by Lupin's voice,

"And that's a point to George!" He shouted from the ground.

"We're pro-Illy and their pro-Ron" Fred shouted back.

"One point for pro-Illy, and Harry is in position to make that point back for pro-Ron!" Professor Lupin began to narrate.

"But Illy steals it back and abandon's her search for the snitch!"

"Oh! Ron misses the bludger and it collides with Hermione! She's fallen from her broom, only a few feet mind you, but Ron and Illy have cast aside the game to help her and Harry scores point for pro-Ron!" But Illy had stopped listening and was now trying to help Hermione to her feet.

"You need to sit out Herm, this really isn't your game, why don't you narrate, we'll get Lupin to play." Illy half suggested and half informed as she found Hermione a decent place to sit. Lupin stopped narrating and looked dazed at the demand.

"Now Illy, I don't even know what you guys are fighting about, I'm not going to get involved." Lupin put his hands out in front of himself in defense. Illy slapped them away and moved so that she was within inches of his body.

"Don't be a pussy."

"Don't be a what?" He asked in amazement.

"Don't be a pussy, don't cop out, don't act like a coward, don't be yellow, don't be a woman, you know pussy derived from pusillanimous?"

"Oh…I know what it means…it's just, entirely out of place for you to say something like that to me. I'm your teacher Killious." Lupin stammered out, seeming quite flustered.

"And what?" Illy spoke harshly but quietly enough for Ron to not hear what she was saying. "It's not sort of out of place for a teacher to come watch a bunch of his students play quidditch? And is it not totally out of place for a teacher to come to said quidditch match and stare down their student's cleavage?" Lupin now averted his gaze from Illy's low cut, skin tight longsleeve shirt, "Even if said student happens to be a bit shy on the asset." Lupin's cheeks now colored red. "And moreover, is it not entirely wrong in every way to send a student into a panic attack at the sight of their worst fear when they clearly stated that they were uninterested in facing said fear in front of anyone? Don't think that Snape didn't tell me what happened. I may forget things, but I have friends who remind me." She stepped back from her spot by his ear and smiled brightly.

"All is forgiven. You may resume watch of my meager assets." She chimed to him in a still low voice before resuming a loud and audible volume level.

"Now, I'd like to be friends with you, seeing as many of my current friends admire you and you have the guts to teach us something usefully, but you must tell me…" Lupin took in a breath, worried that she might ask him something he didn't want to answer in public, like maybe if he was a werewolf. "Do you think that Ron or I could eat more pudding?" Lupin smiled in relief and looked over to Ron who gave him a thumbs up and lifted his shirt to reveal a meager looking attempt at a belly. He looked back to Illy, who turned to her profile and lifted her shirt some, her ribs and hips protruded and her stomach sported a small bruise from Harry's hand, which she hid by turning to the side opposite of it. Lupin grimaced at the site, but chose not to get on Illy's bad side again, and clapped his hands together.

"I must say Illy, your reputation precedes you, and I choose Ron." He smiled and took Hermione's broom from her.

"And Fred scores a point for pro-Illy, in the absence of two players on the pro-Ron side!" Hermione shouted gaily. This job suited her much better.

"Ron, Killious, and Professor Lupin are in the air!" Illy caught sight of the snitch and headed for it fast as lighting, tailing just behind Harry.

"Looks like Illy make take that snitch before Harry though, as she's now cut ahead of him!"

"But Lupin's not playing nice he's sent a bludger straight into her head! Fred and George were no where to be seen on that one, it looks like their chasing Ron down now, he's got the quaffle and he's heading to make a score, but Illy's sent that bludger at him, its struck! He's dropped the quaffle and now George has it! One more point for pro-Illy, that's three to one!" Hermione was really getting into the game at this point. Illy smiled and cut off Harry on his way to the snitch, leaving him dangling from his broom for just a moment.

"Harry's almost been de-broomed! What a sight, but he pulls himself up and continues on his quest for that snitch that Illy's almost caught!" Lupin ran headlong into Killious, sending her flying from her broom and called down to her, as Fred and George did their best to support her weight between the two of them,

"Don't play nasty Illy!"

"Looks like Lupin's playing just as dirty as Illy now! Though Ron has taken back the quaffle and it's so close…HE SCORES!" Hermione jumped up shouting, now totally immersed in the fun of the game that was turning rough. Illy was back on her broom in seconds; flying towards Lupin with brutal force.

"Here comes Illy again, and it looks like she's got an agenda! Fred's passed her the bludger, George has the quaffle, no Lupin, no George, Lupin's been hit square in the knee with the bludger, Ron's gone after Illy but she's too fast and, ANOTHER POINT! Made by George. And quite a nasty hit follows it! Illy's hit Lupin's other knee and passed the bludger on to Fred who seems just as set on vengeance as Illy, he has sent Lupin spiraling towards the ground!" Lupin fell to the ground bellow with a thud, but he seemed uninjured as he had headed down on his broom before Fred knocked him off.

"Look's like he knew what was coming, but who was expecting this amidst the distraction? Ron's scored a point for pro-Ron, that makes the score four to three! This is getting close!

"You're so vicious!" Fred shouted to Illy, who giggled and put on a face of confused innocence.

"Keep your eye on Harry's he's getting close!" She called back when she noticed Harry had almost caught the snitch.

"Harry's almost got it, but no! George's sent a bludger! Illy steals the quaffle from Lupin, who received it moments ago from Ron, but Illy's headed for him, she's cut him off and he throws back to Ron, but it's intercepted by Fred! That's another point taken for pro-Illy. The score's five to three now people" Hermione continued her narration with unrequited enthusiasm.

"Harry's knocked into Fred by what seems to be an accident, but look there! Illy's got the quaffle and is having another go at a point so quickly, Ron and Lupin had better pick up the pace or ask Harry to abandon the snitch or they'll find themselves loosing before the snitch can make a difference!" At this Harry reluctantly veered off his course to try and stop Illy, "But she's passed the quaffle to Fred and ANOTHER POINT! That makes it six, and they've doubled pro-Ron's points. It looks like Ron's black hole of a stomach just might be defeated here today!"

"Illy's caught site of the snitch again and taken off, though it seems that Harry's following again, she makes a grab, but of course Harry's playing a bit tricky today too and it seems he's knocked her off course with a very unorthodox shake to her broomtail!"

"Fred's headed the bludger for Harry though, and given him a good scolding smack to the back of the head with it, but now Lupin's taken hold of the quaffle. George isn't letting him keep it though, he's got it out of his arm and it's fallen to Ron! Both of the twins are now neck-in-neck with Ronald and he's looking a bit frightened, oh there it goes, he's dropped the quaffle now that George has instated foul play! Shoving your own brother towards the ground like that, really George!" Hermione shouted up as she watched Ron recover.

"Ron's alright though, and Fred's scored another point, this is getting dangerously close. Lupin seems to be just about as much of an asset as myself!" Hermione jeered at the Professor who did not seem quite up to par in Hermione's mind.

"Oh, now he's going for the bludger though, and he's hurled it towards George, but of course George blocks it and sends it hurtling towards Ron, forcing him to drop the quaffle he's picked up once again…and in swoops Illy from above, stealing the quaffle and making a point!

"Boy's you'd better hurry or this little game is going to go straight to a certain young lady with no appetite at all! That's eight to three, a sad score indeed." Hermione shook her head.

"But what's this? A new tactic! Both Lupin and Ron have cornered Illy, with the quaffle tucked tightly in Lupin's grasp and Fred and George's bludgers are having no effect. It looks as though they just might stall long enough for Harry to catch that snitch!"

Illy's eyes danced from Ron to Lupin and back again, no matter which way she tried to escape one of the two headed her off and cornered her again. She could see Fred from between the two, but his bludgers weren't doing enough to the duos backs for them to budge, and every time he tried to get around them, they managed to turn their back to him and keep Illy cornered. They were abusing the fact that the bludger was a volleyball to stop any form of play except Harry's pursuit of the snitch.

"Looks like Illy's got a plan though, she's diving right into Lupin! He's dropped the quaffle and Fred's caught it, but he's not going for a goal! He's thrown the quaffle right into the back of Lupin's head now! But Illy's caught it and managed to get Ron in the stomach too, before dropping the quaffle down to George, who makes another point, as pro-Ron seems totally incapacitated by their own pain!" Illy smirked from affar and shoved a longish thumbnail in between the stitches of the volleyball, deflating the ball.

"We're going to loose guys!" Hermione shouted. Everyone sniggered, but continued to play.

"Ron's not even gotten the quaffle this time though, and neither has Lupin, Illy has the quaffle and is making a beautiful tri pass with it between Fred and George, who have left the nearly useless and deflated bludger, rendering it as pointless against pro-Illy as it was against Lupin and Ron." Hermione grimaced as Illy sped towards the goal, but was distracted when she heard Harry's shouting.

"HARRY'S GOT IT! HARRY'S GOT IT! HE'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! WE WIN NINE TO THIRTEEN!" Hermione was up and shouting, dancing a little jig in joyful celebration.

Everyone soared back to the ground with a soft thud and laughed. After a long while of comparing battle wounds, which made Ron and Lupin blush softly as Illy almost pulled her shirt off to show them the bruise just below her dark blue, white polka dotted bra, and then again when she pulled down her pants to reveal matching boyshorts and a nasty softball sized mark on her thigh, but everyone seemed to just laugh off the moment and continue to half strip in the dark to reveal their own cuts and bruises, of which there were many. When the sky finally got so dark that everyone had to go inside, laughing heartily they headed directly towards the common room, loosing Lupin to Snape, who was keen to yell at him.

"We need to settle this in reality," Illy told a little house elf as she and Fred gathered up puddings. "I want as many puddings as you can get us without making more." She smiled and soon toddled out of the kitchen with dozens of pudding bowls. The group stayed up for the entire night eating pudding as Illy surprised everyone again and again by downing one after the next. By the time she fell sleep, sick to her stomach with over exposure to delicious puddings, she had consumed twenty-three in comparison with Ron's nineteen, Fred's twenty, George's fifteen, Hermione's five, Harry's eleven, and Lupin's, rather lately added, but still appreciated, seven. The next morning Snape woke the whole castle up yelling, his student was missing, there was singing mistletoe over his office door, and Lupin had not behaved as a teacher should have, by staying up until four am with students. All in all, it was a perfect night, and Illy was void of dreams, for the first time in a long time, not to mention that she was looking forward to seeing Snape so early, and greeted him with a booming hug, that was made almost as loud as him by the laughter of everyone peering at the spectacle from behind the fat lady, who herself was giggling madly.

(AN: If you loved it, if you hated it, I don't care, just tell me so. I need some feedback from anyone who's interested in seeing more, except Sam of course who constantly brightens up my posting of new chapters with reviews.)


	31. 30 Good morning malnourishment

AN: I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but it has important content that I really didn't want to mix with anything else, so tell me how you think things are coming along, and enjoy

AN: I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but it has important content that I really didn't want to mix with anything else, so tell me how you think things are coming along, and enjoy. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 30

"I ate twenty-three puddings last night!" Killious informed Snape with exuberance.

"I really am more concerned with getting myself shipped off to Azkaban for the murder of an entirely perverse and disturbing excuse for a teacher." Snape muttered as he pushed Illy off of himself without much thought towards what she had just said.

"She _said_ she just ate twenty-three puddings!" Fred and George scolded the impending Snape.

"And she was joined in her late night escapades off to the wrong dorm at a ridiculous hour by a teacher!"

"Servius, she spent the night away from Malfoy, had no bad dreams, ate more food than anyone else could, and she woke up happy to see _you_ of all people." Lupin rolled his eyes and shook his finger at Snape sarcastically, before retreating back to the room with a smirk. Suddenly the realization crept in. Snape turned around and glared at Illy.

"This…Is entirely your fault miss Enquirous, to my office immediately!" He demanded, but fooled no one, as he stormed towards the stairs with Illy's wrist in his hand. She flashed a grin back at everyone and tottered down the stairs with no resistance.

"That does make me wonder though…" Said Hermione suddenly, before turning back towards Lupin, who was lounging in a squashy chair. "Why did you sleep here last night?" She inquired sternly. He just shrugged and raised his hands,

"I missed this place. I spent seven years here, and besides, I just slept on the couch, and I made everyone else go to their own bed just for the sake of making myself appear less creepy." He smiled at her and leaned his head back into the chair.

"Please Hermione, don't start citing rules to our best defense against the dark arts teacher yet." Ron complained to her.

"Oh fine, but only because it's break and he's technically off duty."

"What on earth would posses you to do something so stupid?" Snape demanded from Illy. She only threw up, yet again into the bucket he had gathered for her in his office. About five minutes after she woke up Killious discovered that her giddy high spirits had been less actual joy and more an odd bodily preparation for more nausea than she had ever lived through. Snape had ended up carrying her most of the way down to his office, where he was brewing a potion to calm her stomach and scolding her at the same time.

"Have you no common sense?" He asked again. She just looked up at him from the bucket and glared.

"What did you expect Ike? You consume one eighth of the average student's diet every other day and then you decide to out eat a pack of teenage boys and a wolf man?"

"Don't forget Hermione…ugh" Illy gagged and began to vomit up more pudding.

"Haven't you ever seen malnourishment at work?" He asked with another disapproving look that was somehow countered by his rubbing her back and holding her hair for her. She wiped her mouth on her flannel sleeve and struggled to reply,

"Well, I played…a…lot of…quidditch that night….I…ugh" She spit up a chunk of cherry with which some of the puddings had been topped, "thought…that maybe it would…sort of…burn up the food…" Snape just shook his head and smiled. Even Illy wasn't totally used to his smile, it was thin and jagged, but so genuine when it came that it seemed to counter-act the rest of his demeanor and confuse onlookers into believing that they had never even seen it.

"Ike…" He cleared his throat before continuing, "I'm glad you had fun, and I'm really glad that you ate something, but you've got to be careful for me." He gave up crouching on the floor with her and finally sat down just behind where she knelt. "I woke up and went to have you deliver something and you were gone." His voice sounded like he was about to show actual sadness as opposed to just cynicism. "And so was Lupin, and we both know what he is. He could have really hurt you, well I guess he did in that game, but you get the gist." She sat up from the bucket and leaned back into Snape's shoulder.

"He's a good guy. Admittedly, he doesn't really listen to people or understand tact, but he's had to spend his life ignoring everyone's mockery and bias. How can he listen to himself alone?"

"Exactly my point, and look at you. You run around this place like you can buy the world with your body or something, how is he supposed to respond to that? Think for me please."

"I do not."

"Ike I don't mean that you're…I'm not trying to say tha-"

"That I'm a whore?"

"I would never call you that."

"But finding a term to substitute was taking too long so I said it for you."

"Don't get mad at me just because you're having a natural reaction to overfeeding an anorexic."

"Can we keep on subject? You think I'm sleeping with every guy in this school to get what I want, or at least I think that's where we were."

"No it's not, I was just going to say that you don't have to act the way you do. You're smart Ike."

"Damn it! I'm not like you! Don't you get that, I'm not going to live out my life celibate and hiding behind an angry façade."

"Stop getting mad at me for trying to talk to you."

"Stop prying into my business because you think that you're my father." Illy snapped, but the instant the words had left her lips she found herself stabbed with guilty anguish. Snape started to get up from the floor. She turned and flung her hands around his neck frantically.

"No. I didn't mean it I promise. You're right, I'm defensive because you're right and I know it. Please, forgive me, I'm sorry. You're not trying to be my father." He rose anyway, and moved to the potion he had been brewing with an icy calm.

"Actually, you're right. I do find myself prying into your business too much, and I do act like I'm your parent sometimes. I promised your mother I'd watch out for you, should you ever exist."

"You promised her that you'd watch out for me before you knew I was born?"

"Not exactly. I promised that I'd make sure that any children she had would be personally watched over. I made some mistakes in that promise, so I'm reluctant to let them happen again."

"The accident?"

"Among other things. Now drink this." He handed her a glass of the powder blue liquid. "It should help you keep the rest of that food down."

"Too bad, I was hoping to vomit the rest back up before I gained weight from it." She jeered. Snape was horror stricken. Apparently he didn't get the joke. "Kidding Servius. I may have some things wrong with me, but I'm not bulimic." He relaxed his muscles and took a seat behind the desk. Illy drank the glass silently before speaking again.

"You should get a cot in here for me to skip class on."

"I will do no such thing."

"Fine, but at least don't be so hard on Lupin, he made sure we all went up to our dorms, and he took his medicine like a good puppy."

"There is still the matter of your sneaking into the kitchens and staying in another dorm."

"Yeah, because me and Hermione got really crazy last night." She rolled her eyes and took a seat in one of the chairs opposite Snape's desk.

"The point is that you continually skirt the rules with no regard for the fact that they are punishable."

"So punish me, I don't care."

"That would be the problem."

"Fine, no more late night quidditch with werewolf's followed by pudding eating contests."

"I'm not going to get a promise of your staying only in your own dorm from now on am I?"

"With those newly discover house elf access' to things? No."

"Fine, can I get a promise that you'll behave less promiscuously?"

"It depends, what would that entail."

"Longer skirt, looser shirt, less use of physical contact to avoid confrontation or responsibility, less leading both Harry and Draco on, less public affection towards both of them in general, the dismissal of goobye bear hugs and kisses, and the cleaning up of your mouth." Snape raddled off the list as though he had gone over it several times before.

"Was that prepared ahead of time?"

"Most certainly."

"Then no. Sorry but I'm simply too absorbed in leading on young gentlemen's and shunning responsibility to lengthen my skirts." Illy smiled and put both of her bare feet onto Snape's desk.

"For someone who thinks that Lupin is a perv, and you know you do so don't protest, you spend a lot of time with me."

"We're old friends, there're exceptions for that."

"He's part animal, are there exceptions for that?"

"Not even in Hades."

"I'm kidding Servius, he's sub-par for my teacher affair standards." Illy folded her fingers together, as though she were discussing a serious matter.

"Good to know." Snape replied with no emotion.

"So are you, but only because we're old friends." She raised her eyebrows in simulation of suggestive look.

"Pass me that bucket I feel sick." He said with stoicism.

"I'm just kidding." She smiled and chuckled at her own joke.

"Ike, one day you'll realize that you can just be you, without using anything else to guard yourself."

"I wonder what will make me realize that."

"Oh, I'd say something over your summer might kick that brain of yours into full gear, and then you'll be so mad at everyone, myself included, for letting you go on the way you have, that you'll be a force for even the dark lord to recon with."

"I'll never stay mad at you…merlin knows I've tried, but I can't hold a grudge."

"One more thing that is too dangerous about you for your own good."

"I think I'm going to go take a n-na-naaah-nap" Illy said through a yawn. "Hermione and I didn't get all that much sleep, so I want to catch a bit of it up." Illy pulled her feet back down from Snape's desk and made her way around to where he sat. "Now give me a hug." She put her arms around his neck again, and he wrapped his around her waste. She gave him a smug smile and closed her eyes to concentrate her best of sending him a thought.

"I'm nothing like him. Now get out of my office before he has as much reason to tear off my head as I do his." Illy smirked and skipped out of the room, feeling once again, perky and blithe. The realization hit Snape just as she slipped from the door. "Did you say that out loud?" He shouted down the hall after her.

"What did I say?" She called back, stopping in place to speak with him.

"You told me that I was just as much of a perv as Lupin." He seemed suddenly confused by hearing the words out loud for the first time.

"In that case, no I didn't say that. But I'm glad that you heard it." She winked and continued on, leaving Snape blissfully proud but terribly sick with worry.

"Illy, come sit with us!" Ron called to Illy, who had just woken from her late morning nap and stumbled down to lunch in an a-line sleeveless, knee length, white dress with black trim around its high wasted belt and lay flat collar. She nodded to him, adjusted her black cardigan, and smiled inwardly as she listened to her black sling backs click across the floor of the great hall.

"Any reason for that criminally good looking dress?" Fred questioned as Illy took her seat gracefully.

"Actually yes, Professor Snape had a talk with me this morning about my precocious clothing."

"So what?" George persisted.

"So, I figured that a dress might appease him." She responded with a wave of her hand.

"But I can see straight down to your bra, and so can anyone taller than you…it's light purple." Fred responded.

"Lavender actually, but it's not like you can expect me to be able to replace my entire wardrobe in a matter of hours during which I was napping."

"I don't care either way, it's a smashing dress." Harry offered in encouragement.

"Thank you Harry, I'm glad someone thinks so."

"We think so!" Said Fred and George sounding appalled.

"And so do I, and I bet even Hermione does." Ron added with a pink grin.

"I do, but I would suggest an undershirt." She said with a scolding tone.

"I'll just button up another button." Illy said with a role of her eyes, before closing a black button over the spot where her cleavage had just been showing itself off. A hushed "aww" of disappointment went around the table, and Illy giggled.

"What are we doing after lunch?" Illy asked as the meal slowly came to an end.

"Nothing until you eat something." George replied firmly.

"I've been advised to watch how quickly I try to adjust my diet." She said with a brief smile, just before sighing and taking the fruit salad he offered pushily, though she ate none of it.

"I think we're just heading out for a bit of snowballing." Said Hermione with a sigh. "Maybe we can break a limb this time."

"Don't over react Herm, we're all bruised up enough that I think we'll only be planning on light fire. For you, Fred and George, that means that you may not bewitch the snowballs to rapid fire at anyone." Illy said firmly.

"Well, I'm done are you all ready to go change?" Ron said, shoving his plate from him.

"Yeah I guess so." Harry shrugged and stood up. Everyone at the table followed his example as he headed out of the hall, shaking slightly. He could feel his heart in his throat, thumping against him as he gasped for air. He stepped just outside, stopping in the ever familiar spot that the group often loitered around before breaking for their separate dorms. His hands shook by his sides and he could feel a cold sweat beginning to trickle down his face.

"You alright Harry?" Killious asked with concern, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Wha, oh yeah, yeah I'm all right, just a bit nervous." He replied honestly. The group behind Killious closed around the couple in a circular formation.

"What is it?" She asked, though she had a pretty good idea what had him tugging at the bottom of his shirt.

"I actually wanted to ask you something." Everyone's eyes now drifted from Harry to Illy, waiting for her to egg him on.

"And what would that be?" She tried to sound calm and unsuspecting, but it only earned her a hardened look from Harry, who seemed to be reminding her silently of a few conversations they had, had in private before.

"See we've been friends for a while now…and…I was wondering…" His voice drifted off. No matter how sure he was that this conversation would end in his favor he still felt anxious and worried.

"Yes Harry?"

"I wanted to know if you'd go out with me, like you know…steady, be my girlfriend and all?" His sheepish grin was endearing and the eyes of the group once again traveled to Killious, who stood utterly still and speechless. Harry smiled at her and mouthed out the words, 'don't embarrass me' before giving her a nod to coax her along. She swallowed and looked down at his now balled fist.

"Erm…of course Harry." She breathed. He smiled and put both arms around her waist.

"Nicely done Harry." Ron encouraged, slapping a hand on Harry's shoulder. Hermione smiled tightly at Illy, whose hands were still limply hanging at her sides. Fred turned to leave immediately and Geroge followed after him in hushed conversation.

"I'm glad you said yes." He whispered in Illy's ear, sending chills up and down her spine. She nodded and folded into the hug reluctantly, and still in shock. "Now why don't you go get changed so we can have a snow ball fight with our friends." He said at a more audible level, before giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. His hot lips sent a sickening bolt through her stomach, and twisted her insides into a finite number of knots. She shuddered but nodded and silently went back to her dorm, her slow, soft steps clicking down the empty hall.

The common room had very few stragglers in it. Most of the students were home, but those that were staying for the holiday had already headed outside or to the library for the afternoon. Illy headed up to her room changed into jeans and a sweatshirt of Draco's in just a few moments. It felt almost wrong to wear something that belonged to another boy after the situation that had just taken place, but his scent and the feel of the old garment he worked out in calmed her and gave her the little boost she needed to face her new boyfriend. She pulled her hair into a pony tail and grimaced in the mirror before walking back towards the common room. The room had a few more people in it now, playing chess and such, but she was still surprised to be greeted at the door by Matty, who was a pale gray shade. She started talking before Illy knew what was happening, placing her hands on Illy's shoulders and looking fervently into her eyes and she spoke.

"Illy, I know we don't talk much, and I know that you're friends with Draco and all but…" She stopped her fast paced words for just a moment, but Illy still couldn't tell what it was she was on about. In truth Illy was still mulling over the possibility of Harry or someone else recognizing Draco's sweater in her mind. "Well I thought maybe, since you're friends with even Gryffindor's and mudbloods and all, well maybe we could go out sometime." Her words rushed together so that Illy could barely understand what she was saying, even though she was now paying them a bit more mind. She struggled to make her distant thoughts focus on what was happening and to decipher the word mush that Matty had presented.

"Like what? Like me and you and some friends or something?" She tried, but Matty's expression fell. She had just severely disappointed this odd little blond girl apparently.

"No, just the two of us, as a date, maybe to Hogsmead or Diagon Ally when school is out." Matty tried again after regaining her spark of excitement.

"Oh…actually…" Illy searched for something to say in lieu of 'even if I dated women I wouldn't date you because you're clearly deranged'.

"Actually, I'm dating Harry Potter right now…but I'll um…I'll keep you in mind if…I need to go." She said, dismissing herself from the room, out to the front of the castle where everyone laughed about the situation for three full minutes before beginning less of a snowball fight and more of a snowball war that waged for the entirety of the remaining daylight and resulted in more bruises, nicks, and even a tumble down a hill that left Ron and Illy incapacitated for several minutes due to ankle sprains and headaches produced by their colliding with one another's heads.

But during all of this fun a very single and very vengeful Matty Melrose was sending a pointedly biased owl off towards Draco Malfoy, explaining in rather vulgar and exaggerated terms that Killious Enquirous was now dating Harry Potter, which also resulted in a tumble down a hill that sprained Draco's ankle and gave him a headache, though his was set in motion because he was so shocked at the owl he had received he lost his footing on a hillside path, tripped over his own foot, and rolled smack dab into a rather thick tree, rather than being hit by a playful snowball from a friend. Shortly after recovering from this fall, and prying his mother off of his frame said Malfoy went to his room and composed a remarkably loud howler, for said Enquirous to wake up to in the morning.


	32. 31 Into the eyes of evil

AN: To make up for the shorter chapters I've been putting up lately this one is extra long

AN: To make up for the shorter chapters I've been putting up lately this one is extra long. I hope you like it. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 31

_The little girl looked down at her hands, they had little bits of blood speckling them. She gripped her fingers into a fist and reopened her hands, now evenly coated over with the red liquid. She cringed and rubbed them on her dress. Sir had gotten the house elves to force her into yet another absurd ruffled gown. This one was short and had a pale blue and white calico print over most of its surface, but white ruffles protruded from the dress' bottom, around her knees. She repeated the rubbing motion several times. No matter how long she spent here, she never felt clean, and never stopped feeling that she desperately needed to become so. She didn't have time to finish getting the blood off her hands before Sir opened the door. He was in one of his moods again, they varied so much. Some times he wanted to play roles, it was better to play along and get things over with than it was to tempt him to just go back to violence. She could tell he was in a mood because whenever he wasn't he didn't bother with putting real clothing on her. _

_"You got blood on your pretty new dress." He said with an appalling tone of sympathy._

"_I'm sorry Sir." _

"_Why are you bleeding?" He asked, kneeling down beside her. _

"_I rubbed them on the ground…to clean them Sir." She explained, rubbing her hands along the rough ground to demonstrate. _

"_Stop it, you'll hurt yourself little girl." He smiled that sick smile, making her want to choke up bile on the spot. She nodded in agreement and folded her hands in her lap. Sir picked them up and examined them, licking the blood from her right palm. He dropped them again. _

_"Do you want to play a new game today, to go with your new dress?" He asked her softly. She didn't respond for a few seconds. She was trying to imagine what this new game could possibly be, but she shuddered at the thought of it being worse than Sir's other games. _

"_Yes." She said finally, in a shaky, nervous voice. Sir smiled and stood up._

"_We're going to play a game with special rules. You can't break them, or you'll ruin the game ok?" He asked her, as though he were talking to a very small child of four or five rather than eight or nine. _

"_I understand." She did her best to smile and look excited. His blue eyes shone in the dim light allowed by the still cracked door. _

"_Now listen closely," He started as he pulled his long blond hair back into a pony tail, "lots of people are going to start playing with us, or you more specifically." He chuckled and left the broad smile on his face. "Some important friends of Sir's are going to come and play with you. The rules are that you have to keep quiet and be just as good for them as you are for me." He paused, waiting for the girl to say something. She was still. _

"_So, when they come to see you, you be good. I wouldn't want to hurt you for being bad. But for now, why don't we take a break from games before your first new friend comes?" He leaned down to her level and kissed her on the lips. She squinted and shuddered at his affectionate behavior. He pulled away again and pushed the girl onto her back. _

"_I love this dress." He smirked and pulled the ruffles up to reveal her pantyless form. She bit her lip and did her best to lay still. _

_Sir heaved in a breath and slumped down onto his knees next to the girl. _

"_If you can be that good for everyone else…Azkaban will be nothing to think about for a long time." He mumbled out the last part as he pulled up his pants and headed towards the door. "Someone will be down in a few minutes, so act like a good little girl." He threatened before slamming the door behind him. A few seconds later someone new was in the door, quaking with excitement. _

_"You've out done yourself!" He called to Sir, who was standing just outside the door. _

"Get off of me!" Illy shouted at no one.

"Illy, no one's there." Matty called from two beds down.

"Sorry Matty…forgot to put a charm on." Illy explained as she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and Draco's hoodie.

"No, you didn't. Remember last night, I told you it doesn't bother me. My little brother gets night terrors, I said you didn't need to worry about it for the rest of break." Matty said, followed by a yawn and the sound of her head falling back on the pillow.

"Right…thanks Matt." Illy said before closing the door behind her and heading out for her morning run.

The red envelope bowled over students heads totally free of an owl. It seemed to be fueled by furry itself as it just barely cleared Meagan Prince's rather high pony tail, followed by nearly knocking Terrance Clark on to his ass when it flew beneath his legs, and rolled over Royce Leonard's foot with a thunderous growl. The howler finally stopped when it reached its destination, popping up between Illy's legs, and almost hitting her square in the nose as it rose. Illy struggled to hold the letter hold still long enough to see who it was from,

"Hermione! Do something quick!" She shouted, reaching across the table to where Ron was playing with her wand.

"Why? Who's it from?" Hermione asked withdrawing her wand.

"Just do it!" Illy urged. The letter was beginning to smoke from its creases as Hermione reached out her wand and stunned the letter, deflating it on the spot.

"That should hold it for ten or fifteen minutes." Hermione explained as she tried to snatch Illy's wand back from Ron. "What are you doing with that thing Ronald?" She asked in an exasperated voice.

"I'm just trying to figure out how she gets her spells to be so strong, I think maybe it's the kind of wand she has." Ron explained, tapping the wood on the table, and sending purple and black sparks flying from its tip.

"What's yours made of anyway Illy?" Harry asked distractedly looking up from his magazine.

"Oh, it's a custom make. I tried everyone in the shop, ended up setting fire to several of them on accident, and then he decided to make a special one."

"So what's it made of?"

"It's 'eleven inches long, swooshy but with a stiff snap, made of cherry blossom wood with a core of human blood and crushed bone'" She imitated Mr. Ollivander. Everyone at the table sat silent. No one spoke for at least two minutes.

"Who-whose blood?" Ron finally stuttered.

"My own of course."

"How did he…erm, extract it?" Ron asked again.

"Actually he said it was a sign, I showed up at the shop and I had just been through a sword store across the road, slit my finger tip, almost took it off. He gathered up some blood on the spot, it was still gushing into a rag after all the wands I tried, it even got worse with a few of them."

"And the bone?" Harry inquired.

"When I was younger, before the accident, I put a bad split in my leg. My parents took me down to St. Mungo's the same day and we had a bit of the bone that fragmented removed. It was just sitting there anyway."

"So…your wand has imported wood and your own blood and bone in it?" Hermione asked, clearly puzzled. "I thought only magical objects were used as core's"

"Well we're magical now aren't we?" Illy said with a wink. "Now I've got to go listen to Draco yell at me before this thing explodes and blasts my eyebrows off." Illy stood up from the table and turned to leave with the envelope tucked into her bag, but she had not turned around so fast that she missed the look of reprove mingled with disgust that Harry was giving her.

"KILLIOUS QUINTESSENCE ENQUIROUS! What was going through your head?! Is this some sort of vengeance bullocks? Date my worst enemy to get back at me for fucking Pansy or something like that?" The howler was freakishly loud, and echoed off the walls of Illy's dorm room.

"Fine then! Screw around with him just like you tossed around with your smorgasbord of multi-ethnic fuck buddies! But don't think that I can just turn a blind eye to that!" She felt guilty knowing that just hearing the sound of Draco's voice calmed her down and made her feel better, even if he was yelling at her. "Ok, that's a lie…I can, I guess I will" The howler had now turned a more pink color. "Illy why him? I don't get it! Of all the people in this school to mysteriously screw around with why on earth did you pick Harry Potter!?" He was shouting again…and then nothing…total silence…

"Illy, just…just be in the common room tonight at three." And the letter burned up in front of her, disintegrating into nothing but ash on her bed, and then even less than that. Illy curled up into a ball on the bed and fell into a light sleep for several hours, waking up sporadically with a sniffle or a hiccough.

"Illy…Illy….Illy…ILLY!" Matty Melrose's voice rang through the afternoon air.

"What?" Illy replied groggily.

"Your boyfriend is about to bang down the door. He wants to see you." She explained.

"Oh, oh yeah, I suppose he would. What time is it?"

"I don't know for sure, somewhere around three thirty or four I suppose." She said, passing Illy a less wrinkled shirt from her trunk to put on. Illy buttoned up the black oxford and slipped on a new pair of jeans that Matty also passed.

"That'll look good with your black and grey striped scarf." Matty said conversationally as she paced the article to Illy.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the other day…but…I've been meaning to ask…Did you tell Draco about Harry and I?"

"Yeah, thought he should know the good news too." Matty said with a bit of disdain in her voice.

"Oh…I'd better not keep him waiting." Illy's voice was sad as she headed out to meet Harry.

"What took you so long?" Harry demanded.

"I was just getting changed, I fell asleep, and my clothes were wrinkled." She explained. Harry just firmly grasped her hand.

"You're in trouble." He spat as he drug her down the hall.

"For what? I didn't even do anything Harry. I said I'd date you and everything what do you want from me?"

"And you didn't want to be my girlfriend?"

"I didn't say that Harry. I'm just not sure what I'm in trouble for." She explained. Harry gripped her hand tighter. "You're hurting me Harry."

"Why is Draco sending you letters that you don't want to open in front of me?" His grip didn't loosen.

"He's just upset, I didn't think it was breakfast conversation."

"And what is it he's upset about?" Harry pulled Illy behind him up the stairs.

"What do you think? I'm dating you."

"And why does that matter to him?"

"Because he's my best friend and I'm now dating his worst enemy."

"And why does he hate me so much?"

"Gee, I don't know Harry, maybe because you beat the shit out of him last year?"

"Don't act like he didn't have it coming Illy."

"He just tried to have a relationship with you Harry, does that mean that you're going to hurt me too?" Harry turned left.

"I just might if you can't talk to me with some respect."

"Harry, this is ridiculous! You're my boyfriend you're not supposed to threaten me!"

"I'm not _threatening_. I'm just promising that now that you're my girlfriend you're going to need to obey my rules."

"And what would those be Harry?"

"Number one, is that you stop embarrassing me in public. Two, you're going to need to respect me even when no one else is around. Three, stop being so obvious with your stupid food problem, I think you look great so be a bit more subtle so everyone else will leave you alone. For that matter, enough of this vomiting in class and having blackout's business, its enough that one of us has problems, we don't need yours in the relationship as well. Four, you don't spend time with men alone…not any men, not Dolan, or Christian and Jackquinn, not Ron, not Fred or George and above all, never Draco Malfoy."

"But they're some of your best friends Harry and I live with the rest of them!" Killious interjected. Harry stopped and looked into her eyes before lightly slapping her cheek.

"Remember number two, that means you don't interrupt me. And number five, you do what I say, when I say, with no questions asked. I plan on taking good care of you and making sure that no one and nothing hurts you, that means that you're going to have to trust me about everything." Harry looked intently into Illy's eyes, searching for any hint of defiance. She nodded and looked ahead.

"Ok Harry…whatever you say." Harry released her wrist and she moved her hand to her cheek straightaway.

"We're going to the library to read through some things that might help with Buckbeak's trial. When we walk in we're going to be holding hands, lean over and give me a kiss on the lips. Then I want you to take a seat next to me, don't bother reading anything, just sit there and be supportive." Illy just nodded again and laced her fingers through his on the way to the library.

"Over here." Ron waved at the couple brightly. Illy walked to where Hermione and Ron had procured a large pile of books. She had to inwardly fight herself to keep from bursting into conversation with Hermione and burying herself in books; instead she leaned her face towards Harry's. His thin lips seemed to melt into his jaw too quickly. It felt bony on her own full lips, like their faces didn't match correctly. When they broke Harry took a seat next to Ron. Illy silently pulled a chair from across the table where Hermione was sitting to Harry's side.

"Illy, will you take this and look through it for anything it has on illegal goading of exotic magical creatures?" Hermione pushed the book down the long coffee table towards Illy. She looked to Harry but he and Ron were already talking about something unrelated, so she began to browse the book for anything relevant.

"Here's something…but it only applies to muggles." Illy sighed and returned to her search.

"D'you think that we could claim Buckbeak was pregnant at the time of the accident and the hormones made him crazy?" Ron suggested blandly.

"Yeah that might work…except that Buckbeak is a he." Illy replied sarcastically.

"Don't be rude Illy." Harry said, patting her affectionately on the knee.

"What?" Ron and Hermione both gaped at the same time.

"He-He's right, I sh-shouldn't be so rude." Killious stuttered as Harry's pat on the knee became a death grip on her thigh.

"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione asked shooting a glance at Illy's leg.

"I'm aloud to touch my girlfriend aren't I?" Harry asked in an uncomfortably affectionate voice.

"Oh, of course." Said Hermione, blushing as Harry placed small kisses across Illy's cheek and jaw bone. Illy shuffled through the book's pages uncomfortably as Harry continued to nuzzle her neck and kiss her lightly.

"Aw get a room." Ron complained, throwing a small pamphlet at Harry.

"Have you thought about trying to just sneak Buckbeak out of the country of something?" Illy asked in exasperation.

"Yeah we have Illy…Look, if you're going to be so condescending and sarcastic why don't you just go do something else until dinner." Harry suggested. Illy stood,

"I think I will. I'll see you guys in a few hours." She said before walking away, casting a fierce look at Harry.

She had only made it a few feet from the library, intent upon rushing up to the owlery to scratch a quick note Draco, but Fred and George greeted her jovially when she rounded the corner towards the stairs.

"Hello there Illy." George said, giving her a small hug.

"No Harry?" Fred asked as he moved to wrap his arms around her.

"I'm actually not really supposed to hang out with just the two of you…" She muttered in a pointedly quiet voice.

"What?" Fred asked, not releasing her from his grasp.

"Nothing, just a bunch of bullocks." She said disdainfully.

"Good, we need you." Fred said, smiling as he threw Illy over his shoulder and began to march towards a hidden passage behind a bust of a particularly ornate troll. George pushed down the troll's bejeweled tusk and walked through the passageway it revealed.

"I think you can put her down now, she seems to be protest free." George told Fred, who in turn put Illy back on the ground.

"Sorry about the violent kidnapping, we were worried that Harry might not want you to spend time with anyone else, and this is important."

"He'll be okay with the violent kidnapping, I'm more worried about the Stockholm syndrome that resulted in rape." She said sarcastically following them down the hall.

"See we've just decided to pop down to Magda's again today and thought you should come." Fred smiled.

"You've got a dress or something I assume." Fred said as he guided Illy down another corridor.

"I need a dress to go see Magda?"

"No, she's catering and we're going to crash. But you need a dress." George explained.

"Fine, what kind of dress do I need?" Illy asked.

"Just a cocktail dress I suppose, I'm not totally certain, she just told us what to wear." Fred said in a puzzled voice.

"What did she tell you to wear?"

"Jus' slacks and a collared dress shirt." George answered.

"Yeah a dark toned cocktail dress will work." Illy pushed open the door ahead, letting her out of the storage closet she was in. "Oh…that's how you two got there that day…" She mumbled as the two pointed her towards the Slytherin common room entrance.

"The day with Draco…yeah…we'll meet you back here in half an hour." George spoke in a calm, but clearly suppressive voice. Fred said nothing.

"He'll never do it again. I promise…one day he'll prove it to you." Illy smiled and gave them each a kiss on the cheek before going to get changed.

Forty-five minutes later Illy, Fred, and George were all climbing out of the basement of Honeydukes, looking less than pleased at the cold winter chill that awaited them.

"How far is it?" Illy asked, stopping at the door in the front of the shop to watch the snow fall.

"Not too far, we're actually sneaking in with Magda, so we're using floo from her house." Fred explained as he took off his grey suit jacket and handed it to Illy. She pulled it on over her sleeveless green cocktail dress.

"Guess I could've worn more huh? But you two look nice." She said, nodding to the boys who wore matching grey suits and black shirts with no tie.

"I'm going to see if I can get a carriage to take us down there." George suggested stepping outside. Fred turned to Illy and cupped her face in his hands.

"You look gorgeous…you're just going to freeze your ass off." He smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Fred."

The two waited in silence for three or four minutes, all the while Illy fidgeted with her dark green dress, pulling up on its strapless tube top, adjusting the little black bow around the waste, then adjusting the small buckle on her black heels, and finally checking for the umpteenth time that her hair was still smooth beneath the bobby pins that pulled it half back. George burst in the door with a red nosed smile.

"I got us a ride." He said leading his friends out the door.

"Thank Merlin, I was sure she was going to start re-hemming that damn thing if we left her to play with it much more." Fred said sarcastically as he acted out Illy's little routine for his brother. They all laughed and climbed into the carriage.

They pulled up outside Magda's moments later, still chuckling and joking with one another jovially. Magda was waiting at her door in a black mini skirt, red heels, a red vest, and a white oxford shirt. George and Fred started clutching their sides and breaking down into hysterics the second they looked at her.

"Yeh, well this s'before the bowtie I 'ave tah pu' on, so shut th'fuck up." She snapped as she handed Illy a black piece of thick ribbon. "Can you tie on' of 'ese fings?" She asked.

"Hold still." Illy quickly tied and adjusted the bowtie.

"Al'igh, if you two's done gigglin' li' school girls, we 'an leave." Magda said in a cross tone.

"She hates doing events with dress codes." Fred explained.

"Now, we're head'n to 'Oftear Pla' go' it?" She asked, shooting a glance to Illy.

"Ofteer Place." George reaffirmed. Magda nodded and put her pinch of floo powder into the fireplace. She was gone seconds later.

"I'll go next." George offered. "Ofteer Place." He said with authority.

"Alright, you're up." Fred told Illy.

"Ofteer Place." She said before stepping into the fire. Its cool flames sent goose-bumps all across her skin. But soon George was steadying her slightly swaying frame.

"Let's go mingle." Fred offered from behind. Illy let out a little yelp of laughter when she saw him. "What?" He asked, oblivious to the bit of soot that had gotten on his nose.

"I'll get it." Illy said, taking a napkin from a nearby countertop, spitting on it and wiping his nose.

"Did you just spit on that and wipe his nose?" George asked in a disgusted tone.

"Yes I did." Illy said triumphantly as the trio headed for the exit door to the kitchen.

"Disgusting!" Fred said, clearly repulsed.

"Ugghh, she's as bad a mum." George chided.

"Shut up and one of you dance with me." She demanded as they walked into the large ballroom on the other side of the kitchens.

The building looked like it could have been a museum. The walls had hand carved, gold leafed wood paneling and the floors were tiled in gold and cream colored stones. The ceiling was vaulted, and sported five chandeliers, the largest being in the middle, and each of the others to the north, south, east, or west. The chandeliers appeared pointless however, as thousands of tiny, crystalline looking balls sported small flames that made the room positively glow with holiday jubilance. Windows and doorways were tactfully trimmed in festive icicles to match the many ice sculptures around the edges of the room that those who were not dancing had gathered to observe.

"What even is this?" Illy asked as both boys led her to the dance floor.

"Annual viewing of magical ice art." George explained knowledgably. Illy looked back at one of the sculptures, a woman with a sweeping gown and her dance partner, both of which she now noticed were actually dancing.

"I see. So which one of you am I dancing with?" she asked when they found a good place on the floor.

"We'll fight over you, it usually attracts another girl, and from there we'll decide who gets her." Fred answered with a wink.

"I take it I'm in Magda's usual position?"

"Precisely." George said as he pulled Illy close and began to dance. "And this excellent tactic has yet to fail us." He finished while he spun her once and extended his arm, putting distance between them, but before he could pull her back Fred had taken her free hand and started waltzing with Illy.

"So what if two girls show up? Do you just abandon me?"

"Naturally." Fred answered as he dipped Illy. She put a hand on his shoulder and did her best to not look awkward as she craned her neck upward to face him.

"Thank you for taking me." Her voice was honest, she really didn't want to sit around the castle with Harry for one more second. She was so uninterested in seeing him at the moment that she was considering sneaking off to Snape's office for several hours, just so she could skip eating dinner with Harry.

"No problem, George is stealing you now." Fred informed as George stepped in.

The little dance went on for ten minutes before a pretty blond came and asked George to dance. He winked at Fred and Illy as she took his hand and headed off for a better spot to dance. After another ten minutes Illy decided she had to have a look at the ice sculptures, and she and Fred began a route around the room.

"Look at that one." Fred pointed at a pair of dueling swordsman.

"Maybe we can lower the temperature around them just a bit and get a piece of those swords to chip off and hit an innocent bystander." Illy suggested. Fred chuckled and they kept moving.

"I think this one is my favorite." Illy said as they stopped to stare at a belly-dancer.

"You would pick the most provocative one in the room." Fred rolled his eyes and watched as the dancer gyrated her hips and moved in a slow circle, glistening and shaking her small tambourine. The two laughed and made fun of the several public figures that had been sculpted as they barked out orders or sang odd little Christmas songs. Fred was ecstatic to spend a full four minutes watching a dragon spit fire that turned to ice and then melted away in seconds. Illy on the other hand almost fainted when she saw that someone had sculpted Lucious Malfoy, who according to a young lady in front of them, had donated a large sum of money to the orphanage that the event was raising money for. When they had circled the entire room a man stepped in from a door to their right and announced quite loudly that,

"Dinner is served, please follow me." After which Illy and Fred spent some minutes trying to find where George and his new friend were sitting. They had saved seats and Illy engaged herself in conversation with the girl about the event.

"An orphanage for all magical children, what a brilliant service." Illy said brightly.

"Yes, my father's put a lot of work into Pallomer's Orphanage and Grade School for Magical Children. He's the event planner, actually he organizes this event every year." The blond said, gushing with pride.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with him? He must want you around for pictures and such." Illy said conversationally, though really she was sure that her father could care less about having his busty blond daughter in the papers with him seeing as with reporters like Rita Skeeter he would probably be accused of having an affair.

"No, he doesn't like to bring work too close to the family, except for me of course, being adopted and all. But he sits at the head table and makes speeches and gives out awards." She said pointing a finger at the long table that had been placed on a stage at the front of the room.

"Who else sits at the head table?"

"A bunch of the big donators, Mr. Fudge and Ludo Bagman sit at the far right end, my dad sits right after them, and then in the middle is the president of the orphanage, Darius Aldarploy, and on his left is the head of adoptions, Miss Pendular, and the last three over on the left are a few other people from the ministry, usually they're just representing foreign supporters though."

"Wow, quite a panel of important people." Illy commented.

"Actually, now that I think about it, the last seat on the left belongs to Mr. Malfoy."

"He-he's going to b-be here?" Illy asked, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

"Yeah, and that gorgeous son of his too! By the way, you didn't tell me your name."

"Oh…I'm Killious Enquirious, Illy for short, George probably already told you but his brother's name is Fred. Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"No, my mother lives in the States so I go to Salem, my names Christina Charlotte."

"Nice to meet you." Killious said extending a hand. Fred followed her example with a smile and immediately began to scour the room for any signs of Lucious.

"What is it that you have against him?" He whispered into Illy's ear as she continued to make small talk with Christina.

"I don't really want to talk about it." She whispered back.

"We can leave if you want." He offered.

"No, I'll be okay, just as long as I don't get drug off to the dance floor with him or anything like that." Illy whispered back once again, with sarcasm. Fred stifled a laugh and waved at Magda, who was now directing plates of food across the room like an orchestra conductor with her wand. Christina jumped a little in shock as a salad gently landed on the table in front of her and gave a quick spin before becoming stationary. Illy picked up a fork to begin her salad when suddenly Christina reached over and grabbed her fork hand.

"There he is!" She spoke in a strenuously hushed voice. Illy looked up from her plate to see, much to Christina's delight, a dashing Draco Malfoy entering the room from the left in what looked to be a ludicrously expensive silk black suit featuring grey dotted pinstripes with a matching grey shirt. "Oh my goodness, he's even more dreamy in person!" She squealed. George and Fred stifled their sniggers.

"You're kidding right?" George asked.

"No, he's so hot! The girls back at Salem will not believe we went to the same benefit." She spoke eagerly. Illy shot a mischievous look at Fred and stood.

"No…Don't do it Illy." He implored. She ignored his pleading and started across the room towards Draco.

Draco seemed oblivious and more than anything bored with and to his surroundings as he perused the options of whom he should sit with, his still long hair flipped softly from side to side as he debated which direction he should head for. He turned on his heel and headed towards the direction of the head table where a few tables still had vacant space when he heard a whispering voice in his ear.

"I have a seat at my table." He turned around catching Illy off guard, as she was still extremely close to where Draco's ear would have been had he not turned around.

"Killy." He breathed.

"Come sit with me." She laced her fingers through his hand and walked him to where everyone was sitting. Christina had already managed to get George to move down a seat so that Draco would end up between herself and Illy.

"Thanks for saving me." Draco whispered as he took his seat.

"No problem, Draco this is Christina Charlotte, her father is the even planner at the orphanage."

"I know, he's good friends with my own father." Draco said, casting a seductive glance at Christina and kissing her lightly on the hand.

"Ahem." George interrupted by snaking a hand around Christina's waste. She giggled and turned to George.

"I'm sorry sweetie, he's just…well look at him." She giggled again and turned back to George.

"Wow, George has her wrapped around his finger…" Illy whispered to Fred, who just shrugged.

"That's George, he can get almost anybody, he just looses interest after a few days." Fred explained.

"Did you get the howler?" Draco asked aside to Illy.

"Yes I did." She said, suddenly remembering how upset he had been.

"We'll talk about it tonight; you look too good to yell at." He whispered, a little too close to her ear. Chills ran up and down her spine.

The meal drug on, plagued with speeches and George and Draco's friendly but shameless flirting with Christina, who seemed too flattered to know how to respond. Fred was still irritated by Draco's presence, but was less aggressive the more Draco and his brother got along. When the last of the speeches had ended the same man inviting everyone to eat walked to the front of the stage.

"I would like to invite everyone one to join us in the ballroom again to see the rest of the ice exhibit, and donate to the orphanage before you leave." Draco took Illy's hand and led her to the next room. His hands found their way to her hips with the same ease that her head found its way to his shoulder.

"How did you get invited to this event anyway?" He asked softly into her hair.

"I know the caterer, or Fred and George do, so we all crashed."

"You know Magda?"

"_You_ know Magda?"

"Of course, I know everyone Killious, you should have realized that by now."

"Your father is rubbing off on you."

"I still have my hair, so he's not doing too much."

"I do love your hair…but I'm still surprised that you would be friends with Magda."

"Her aunt is employed by my father, crazy old loon. But I don't think Magda gets along with her all that well, she doesn't even notice when my Dad has the woman off working for months at a time."

"She's pretty caught up in her own life."

"I don't want to talk about Magda."

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?" Illy asked. Draco only pulled her closer to him and sighed.

"My dad wants to talk to you." He said softly. Illy stiffened, forcing Draco to practically lift Illy and pull her across the dance floor.

"I'm not going to do that."

"Please Illy, you can't expect yourself to just show up this summer and be okay with him. You're going to have to do this slowly."

"Draco…I-" He pressed a finger to her lips.

"I'll be right there." He leaned in to kiss her but she turned her face, leaving him with no option but a small peck on the cheek.

"I'm dating someone." She said harshly.

"I'll go get him." Draco let Illy go and went in search of his father.

The two returned moments later and Draco went to join Fred and George who were impatiently watching from the side.

"You just handed her off to him?" Fred questioned.

"No, I did what my father asked me to and am now maintaining a safe distance from him without abandoning her." Draco explained forcibly.

"You actually thought about disobeying him didn't you man?" George asked with sudden realization.

"Yes. And I'm starting to wish I had." Draco managed through clenched teeth as he watched his father pull Illy unnecessarily close with his unnecessarily low hands. Draco let out a growl like grunt of irritation, to which his father only smiled placidly.

"So, Killious is it? What is your relationship with my son?" Lucious asked Illy. She bit her lip but kept her gaze locked on Lucious' eyes.

"We're very good friends." She said shortly.

"I've heard rumors that you're more than that, which obviously concerns me."

"Well we're not, I have a boyfriend. And even so, why would that concern you?" Lucious tightened his grip on her waste and led a bit more forcefully.

"It would _concern_ me because I'm not going to have my pureblooded son dating a filthy orphaned child that doesn't even know if she's a mudblood or a muggle born."

"I don't think that has anything to do with whether or not we should be dating." She said through gritted teeth.

Fred reeled on Draco,

"Aren't you going to do something?" He demanded.

"They have to talk some time before this summer. If things get out of hand I'll do something."

"She's not yours to pass around you filthy curd!" Fred snapped.

"Calm yourself Weasley, just because she isn't interested in you or any of the other fire crotches in your miserable family doesn't mean _I_ have any less influence in her life."

"You know Malfoy, up until this point in time I was thinking that you really weren't that bad." George said.

"I'm…I'm sor…I apologize for my antagonistic behavior. He makes me nervous…and she makes me protective." Draco explained. Fred let out a sarcastic "yeah sure" but George nodded,

"He understands, you makes him nervous too, and Illy is like our little sister…I don't know what your relationship with your father is, but…and I do mean this in the worst way possible, your father is scum."

"He's worse than that, he's ex-death eater scum whose been accused of alleged…inappropriate sexual activities more than once, and now he has his foul hands on our friend." Fred snapped at Draco for the second time. Draco looked toward his feet as he spoke…

"So…is that common knowledge?"

"Your fathers standing as a sentient being or his sexual fancies?" Fred asked, still in a cruel tone.

"The latter."

"No, it's not common knowledge…We found out last summer, George and Lee and I. With everything that happened to Ginny, we got to digging in his files, illegally of course, but we were worried that he might have had a more active hand in things than it appeared. Of course we found out then that-"

"She's too old and he doesn't like red heads." Draco interrupted.

"Yeah…something I guess the two of you share." Fred chided. Draco turned on him, pushing up on his toes just slightly to stare eyelevel with Fred.

"Enough!" He roared, "You listen to me, if you can't keep your mouth shut about my father's unproven sexual preferences you can at least not speak about me. I won't deny that he's a twisted and morally corrupt man with far too much power and money on his hands, but don't drag me down with him Weasley." Draco threatened coolly before turning back to watch Lucious pull Illy ever closer.

"So who are you dating?" Lucious asked in a lewd voice.

"Harry Potter, a big fan of yours as I've heard." Illy said in a sarcastically sweet voice.

"One more reason you'll need to stay away from my boy." He threatened back as he lowered his hand still further.

"If you don't get your hands back from my arse I will tell you all sorts of things that you might not approve of, just so you can dwell on them this summer when I come visit." Illy was half hoping that she just might loose the invitation to spend her holiday with the Malfoy's all together.

"Get used to it; my hands go wherever I want in my house." Lucious replied, narrowing his eyes.

"If you so much as think about touching me over holiday your son's hands will go wherever I _he_ wants them to."

"You're quite confident in your threats little girl. You forget that I control my son and he shares my views on those who should clearly be removed from our world."

"Well you haven't done a very good job at controlling him so far; his hands have done quite a bit more than cop a feel." Illy spat back. Lucious just laughed and dipped her so low that her hair swept over the floor.

"Little girl, I don't care if he fucks you or not, just as long as you aren't seen in public." Illy stood on her tiptoes and leaned in close to Lucious' ear.

"I'll fuck him on the front steps of the department of magic if you don't stop threatening me." She lowered herself back down and forcibly pulled his hands up from their position.

"Are you black mailing me little girl?" He asked in a sly but intrigued voice.

"Should I have reservations about such things? I assumed that we'd be playing by your rules."

"Oh, we'll be playing by my rules, you just might have harder time keeping up when you're alone in my home and you don't have your lovely twins to keep an eye on you." The song ended but Illy didn't move her hand from Lucious' shoulder.

"Don't fuck with me Lucious, I have more friends than that keeping an eye on me." She spat before dropping her hands and walking to where Fred, George, and Draco waited. The twins both hugged her at the same time, she was trembling all over.

"What did he say?" They both asked at the same time. She just pointed to a bench by the wall. The twins started towards it, but Draco turned to Illy, burying his face in her hair and resting his head on her shoulder,

"Killy, I almost came to get you…but you…if I was wrong I'm sorry, but…you were giving him a good fight."

"Just let me sit down and I'll tell you about it." She said in a feeble voice. Draco softly guided her through the crowd to where Fred and George were sitting.

"Ok…so what happened?" George said after taking in a deep breath.

"He asked me what my relationship with Draco was. I told him we were good friends, and he proceeded to tell me that he didn't want his son dating any mudbloods or muggle born's."

"Is that all?" Fred asked, looking relieved.

"No, I told him I was dating Harry…and…and when he put his hands…lower…"

"Don't lie to yourself we all watched him feel you up." Draco offered, squeezing into a place between George and Illy and taking her hand in his while she spoke.

"Anyway, I told him to move his hands and he just said that in his house his hands go where they want. He was standing there playing mind games with me, like it was some joke. I'm not an idiot, I know when someone's toying with me, so I played back. I told him that if he didn't get his hands off my ass I would let his son put his hands where he felt in his house. Not that I would mind you," Illy said, mostly to Draco, which put Fred at ease. "He said that I was confident in my threats and told me that you," She pointed at Draco, "were basically under his thumb, when I told him he was wrong he laughed at me and said he didn't care if I snogged you or not, just as long as no one saw us." Her voice lowered as she finished.

"And you told him." Draco pushed. Illy shot him an irritated glare, but it was too late to not continue now,

"And then I told him that if he couldn't control himself I'd snog you on the front steps of the ministry…He said I wouldn't have the twins to look after me this summer." She finished again before leaning into Fred's shoulder. He put his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I want to go to bed." She whispered.

"Ok, anything you want, we'll take the floo back to three broomsticks and get home from there." He explained as he rose and gave her his coat. Draco looked aghast.

"Don't forget." He urged. She just gave him a nod and headed towards the kitchens with Fred and George.


	33. 32 The things I have dreamt of

AN: This is another longer chapter

AN: This is another longer chapter. I hope that you like it, R&R. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 32

When Killious got back to her dorm she opted out of a nap to pass the time for the next two or three hours and decided that an extra long shower and a book would be a better idea. Maybe it would ease her guilty conscience. Abandoning your new boyfriend after a squabble and not returning for the rest of the night for the sake of dining and dancing with not only three other teenage boys but a grown man with an overly friendly touch was not her idea of loyal or affectionate behavior, no matter how involuntary the relationship was at moments.

Illy sighed and turned the water on in the shower. Her long hair draped over the front of her shoulders and down her chest, curtaining her body in black sheen. She sighed and rested her head on the tiled wall in front of her; her mind swam between thoughts on Lucious, the impending conversation with Draco, and her own guilt regarding Harry. She could feel a pulsing headache developing in the back of her neck and spreading to her temples. She raised her finger tips to her temples and began to rub them in a circular motion. She could barely think about any one thing for more than a few seconds before another worry came pressing into her head like a nail drilling through her head.

"_Get used to it; my hands go wherever I want in my house" _She could feel Lucious' hands close in on her; she swallowed hard.

"_Number one, is that you stop embarrassing me in public. Two, you're going to need to respect me even when no one else is around…" _She clamped her hands around her ears to try and block out the sound. Soon Draco's breathy voice was in her ear,

"…_Killy…"_ She took in a deep breath and fell to her knees, bruising them as she fell.

"_Why is Draco sending you letters that you don't want to open in front of me?" "Little girl, I don't care if he fucks you or not, just as long as you aren't seen in public." _Illy swooned, suddenly wrapping her hands around her waist as her stomach lurched. She inhaled sharply.

"_when you're alone in my house…" "…don't bother reading anything, just sit there and be supportive." "…we'll be playing by my rules," "…it's enough that one of us has problems, we don't need yours in the relationship as well…" _The bile was once again black and sticky, but it disappeared down the drain and subsided shortly after, Illy was left laying on her back, staring at the shower spray that was coming down into her eyes, though she couldn't see it, as the vision her mind was dwelling on happened to be blurring out everything else…

_The room had finally settled, the spinning feeling had subsided. She was comfortable and warm, the surface bellow her was soft, almost silky. She struggled to focus on not falling asleep, she felt exhausted. Her head lolled to the left, but the only thing across from her was a stone wall decorated by renaissance paintings and elaborately hung silk drapery. The stone seemed familiar, she had seen it before, in her nightmares. Panic swept over her, she forced her tired head to the right, and there was the color she was looking for, silver blond, platinum, white gold, tresses; long and wispy, just as silky as the sheets beneath her. Hot tears began to well in her eyes, this face was so much like the one that haunted her, but at the same time far younger. He stirred lightly, his eyes fluttered before opening; his smile was just as it was in her dreams. He pulled the black sheets down from his naked torso and reached out for her, she pushed away from him, almost falling out of the bed. His light chuckle sent chills up and down her spine. He withdrew the sheet the rest of the way to pull her back towards him. "Lucious no!" She squealed. His face was horror stricken. _

Illy was gasping for air; her eyes and mouth were full of water from the shower's downpour. She turned herself over onto her knees and tried to stand. Her legs were weak beneath her weight as she stumbled towards the towel hook. "You're ok Killious." She chanted to herself as she walked towards her dorm room, towel clad. Rather than putting on full clothing again she slipped on boxers and a tanktop before heading down to the common room with the book Hermione had given to her earlier that day. She sat near the fire and piled a large fuzzy blanket over her shoulders to protect herself from the freezing cold drops of water that would have trickled down her bare back. After forty or fifty minutes she checked the clock, it was half past three, Draco was late. She stood up to leave; he must have been as tired as she was and gone to bed. Her hand was on the door leading to the girl's dorm when she heard an overly loud whisper.

"Killy!" The loud voice hissed. Illy came to sit Indian style in front of the fireplace.

"You're late." She said crossly.

"No, I'm in Switzerland, my time is off of yours." He retorted.

"Why are you in Switzerland?"

"Vacationing with my family."

"Oh…what am I doing in the common room at three thirty in the morning?"

"You're talking to your favorite person about your decision to date his least favorite person."

"Right about that…he kind of snuck up on me. All his friends were there and…I couldn't embarrass him."

"Killy, the boy almost choked you to death in a dark ally. He's a shameless shit! How can you date him?"

"What you really mean is 'how can you date him and not me?'"

"That too, but mostly how can you date a guy who has shown himself to be physically abusive?" Draco was outraged, she could tell, even though his voice was even and calm; the way it always was when he was actually so frustrated he could barely speak. Illy just sighed,

"Draco, it's done now and he hasn't been all that bad."

"It's been one day, and what has he done so far?" She couldn't answer to his face. She stood up, taking several paces in the opposite direction from the fireplace, still not turning around to face him again.

"He put down some rules…and I know it sounds kind of odd, but…they're not all that bad and besides, it's not like I'm going to follow all of them to a T."

"What are they?" He asked in a sneer. She bit her lip, debating the likelihood of his believing any of her lies, the chances were unlikely.

"Don't embarrass him, respect him even when other people aren't around, don't spend time alone with other men, don't question him, and don't bring all my problems into the relationship….it's not that bad." She mumbled. Draco stared at her, he couldn't reason with her, or at least not now. There was nothing he could do from the other side of a fire, thousands of miles away, why waste more breathe?

"Are those my boxers?" He asked, feigning irritation.

"No." Illy said indignantly as she turned back to Draco.

"Why not?" He asked raising an eyebrow and smirking. Illy giggled and sat down in front of the fireplace again, happy that someone in her life was willing to let things be every now and then.

"Draco, I've already abandoned Harry for the night to spend my time with you, Fred and George, I could only be less of a good girlfriend if I sat in front of the fireplace and flirted with you…after seeing you naked in the shower." She mumbled under her breath.

"You thought about me naked while you were in the shower?" He asked, sounding both winded and flattered.

"Not in a good way." She replied stoically.

"Is there a bad way to think about me naked?"

"I…I called you Lucious."

"Oh…well that would be bad…anything else?"

"It was more like one of my visions…you were older, your hair was longer, and I almost fell out of the bed when you tried to touch me." Draco looked crestfallen at her response.

"Well…" He said, trying to make the topic less upsetting. "Were you naked too?" He asked with a smile. She rolled her eyes,

"I didn't check to see."

"How could you not check to see if you were naked too?"

"I see myself naked all the time. It's not exactly an event in my book."

"Well it's an event to me!" Draco said with indignation. "Bloody hell, I'd throw a party every time you took your clothes off for me." He said with a scummy smile.

"Draco…my visions…they usually come true…it really worries me."

"How could the thought of waking up next to my god like body worry you?"

"Draco, you were either older, or it was your dad when he was younger…I don't know which."

"So it could be the past or the future?"

"And I have no way of knowing which."

"Yes you do, I have Black family genes in me and he doesn't, we look different, even if our faces are close, I'll just have to spend a night naked with you in my bed and you can tell me in the morning who it was." He teased with a devious smile.

"I'm not spending the night with you. And that wouldn't work anyway, I said it was you when you're older, your hair was much longer, and you looked bigger, I mean taller and more muscular."

"Did you get a good look at all of me?"

"I'm not comparing my memory of your dick with your current hard on… You'll need some time to grow." She added with a vicious inflection.

"Oh please, if it was that big I know it was me." Draco said arrogantly.

"And how would you know that? Do the two of you compare on a weekly basis or something?"

"You can never let me have my moments can you?"

"Not when they boost your self esteem…of course it's more like an out of control raging ego at this point."

"You're not so humble yourself. You're bony ass can't help but show off every time you get a chance."

"I thought that my ass was the only non-bony thing on me."

"As long as you can still fit into a pair of double zero jeans your ass is bony."

"You're not exactly a fat ass either."

"No, but I eat healthy, I have muscle tone, and my ass looks great."

"Says you."

"And half of our house."

"You're a whore."

"And you're going to knock boots with Harry Potter…and me at some point."

"Well…when you put it that way you damned well better be the person in that vision."

"Please don't make me think about that."

"Think about what? Me and your dear old Dad getting nasty?"

"How are you not gagging right now?"

"I am. it's just that I'm bulimic too, so I'm good at holding my vomit."

"Well now that I've given up all of Magda's good cooking to your fowl mind, is there anything else you want to add? Maybe I can get a stomach ulcer too."

"Harry's spit tastes better than yours." Illy chided. Draco just snorted.

"Now you're lying."

"I haven't even kissed him yet."

"Keep it that way." Draco said, suddenly sincere.

"Why? It's not like you're the first guy I've kissed Draco…You weren't even the first one at this school."

"Still…Can you tell me exactly what happened in the shower?"

"Why?"

"I tell you everything you want to know, so why not make this a two way thing."

"If I tell you about the shower will you tell me why you continue to go back to Pansy of all people."

"Yes."

"Fine…" Illy relayed the vision nervously, her stomach lurching several times unpredictably along the way. When she was done Draco was silent for several seconds,

"Would you recognize the stone if you saw it again?" Draco asked in an overly intrigued voice.

"Sure, how could I not?"

"And can you tell me about your dreams?"

"I have them written down. I'll let you see the book when break is over…Now you need to talk to me about Pansy."

"That's easy…Her family has been making plans with mine to marry us, she's conveniently around whenever I want." He said with sad disdain.

"So she's just the easiest fuck?"

"And no one's parents mind…But you know that if you'd just stop with all this friends nonsense you wouldn't have to be disgusted with me, and I could deal with the inconveniences of normal adolescent sex." Draco said with a little smile.

"Which is exactly why we're going to stay friends."

"Because I'm willing to give up meaningless but convenient sex?"

"No, because you just assume that I'd be willing to give you a toss off whenever you want, and all you'd have to do is deal with our parents."

"That's not true number one, and number two, you saw how my Father reacted to our being friends. Do you know what he'd do if we got caught together?"

"Well we're not going to get caught doing anything together so why worry about it?"

All of a sudden Draco's face was interrupted by Snape's ominous and looming, though thoroughly exhausted expression.

"Killious, enough, its four in the morning, go to bed."

"Yes _Father_." She said sarcastically.

"You too Mr. Malfoy." He snapped. Draco's voice came from Behind Snape's now glowering face,

"Right Professor." Snape's face disappeared. Draco let out a chuckle.

"I'll owl you in the morning Draco." Illy said with a smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Replied Draco with a wink.

"What?"

"Dress sexy." He said before his face disappeared. Illy let out a frustrated growl before retreating to her bed.

_The stone was the same again, the walls were identical, the cloth felt familiar. The feelings…those were different. She wasn't panicked or scared, she wasn't even shy. It was like once again she was a bystander, just like in her other dreams. This wasn't like the vision that she could interact in, it was just a scene playing out in front of her eyes and she couldn't do a thing about it. He was smiling again, that satiated, totally calm smile, and he was looking at her. _

"_You know you're gorgeous in the morning." He said seductively. She giggled a little and moved closer to him, curving herself into his body and pulling his arm over her. _

"_You know you'd say anything to get laid." She said slyly. _

"_Only if I'm saying it to you." He whispered into the back of her neck. She shuddered under the tickles of his breath. She could smell the two of them in the air, olfactory proof of their love making in his bed._ _He danced two fingers from her neck down to her hip, slipping his hand lightly between the silk sheet and her body; his fingers crawled down lower, slipping between her legs. She let out a light gasp. _

"_Son!" The sound rang up the stairs below. _

"_Hide." The blond whispered to her. She was out of the bed in a second, dragging the sheet with her. She ducked inside of the walk in closet and closed the door lightly behind her. _

"_Son! The mudblood is missing!" The voice was just outside the door now. She watched from the closet as the young man pulled his silver comforter up around his naked body, just as a hooded figure burst through the door without knocking._

"_Son that filthy bitch of yours is missing." He said darkly. The boy narrowed his eyes on his father._

"_I'm certain we've had a conversation about you not calling her names." _

"_You can call the slut whatever you want. But in my house she is a vile, disgusting, whore and you will not correct me." He moved his face so close to the boy when he said this that she was certain he would move back. But he did not even avert his gaze or blink in the face of the cloaked man. _

"_I'm sure she's just out walking, she does take a morning run around the black lake during the school year." _

"_That wouldn't take all that long; it's nine thirty." He said speaking even quieter through his clenched teeth. _

"_Maybe you miss understood; she ran around the lake five or six times each morning and had quidditch practice with me. Locking her up in this damned house doesn't provide exercise for a girl with that much energy…unless you'd prefer her running laps inside the house?" _

"_She should be getting plenty of exercise with you. I know you've been screwing that little half-breed tramp, which as I'm sure you know, is not something I will tolerate in my damned house."_

"_Please Father don't start this, she's just out for a run. Leave it." _

"_If I found out you're fucking around with her she'll pay for both of you." He spat. _

"_I guess we're both safe." His son smirked and waved goodbye as his father stormed out the door. _

_"Oi! Get over here; we need to get you sweaty enough for him to believe you've been running all morning." He called towards the closet door. She smiled and pushed the door open, wrapping the sheet around herself like a towel. He put out both hands, eagerly smiling as she crawled across the bed towards him. _

"_That smile is ridiculous." She said, tracing his lips with her index finger. He tugged the sheet loose from her body. "It just keeps getting bigger. Pretty soon you won't be able to frown, and what will become of your reputation then?" She asked as he leaned in to kiss the bit of bare skin between her breasts. For the first time she looked down at her body, large breasts and olive tanned skin, no bony hips, just soft, supple curves. She realized…but just as he moved one hand around her butt and the other to her chin the door burst open again. She dropped her hands from his hair, though she hadn't realized until this moment that they had even been there. His hair must have been midway down his back. _

_"That contemptible soiled smut is out for a run is she?" The man was across the room in seconds. She pulled the sheet back up around her body, just in time for him to throw her over his shoulder. The young man was standing up before his father had turned around. _

"_Put her down!" His voice bellowed through the room. _

"_I told you what I would do if I found out. Suppose she had spawned one of your seed? We would be forced to kill it!" She was thrashing against him, while struggling to keep what bit of coverings she had on. _

"_It is no business of yours whom I take into my bed, now put her down!" He shouted again, tying another one of the bed's sheets around his waist. _

"_You'll be loosing your inheritance if I hear you speak like that one more time!" He tightened his hold on her, slipping his hand over her rump in a harsh manner. She let out a wail of disgust. _

"_Get your hands away from her. I know what you've done." His voice was cool and emotionless. "What's that supposed to mean…son?" _

"_Isn't she a bit old for you?" He asked harshly, but still stoically. His father dropped her to the floor with a thud, but held onto the sheet, dumping her naked body onto the floor. She squealed as he reached a hand down to pull her up by her hair. _

"_I'll take what I want in my house." _

"_It's too bad that after tomorrow it won't be your house." _

"_This house will be mind until the day I die, and even if I lost it tomorrow, she wouldn't be alive to see it. I'm done with this petty whore prancing around my house and controlling you like some doll!" _

Illy woke up surprisingly calm. Matty had just pushed on her shoulder to wake her.

"No bad dreams last night eh?" She asked.

"Just not as bad as usual." Illy explained.

"You've gotten an owl, and a summons from Dumbledore." She handed Illy both sheets of paper.

"What time is it?"

"Eight. I would have woken you up at your normal time…but you got in really late. Good night with Harry I suppose?"

"No." Illy pulled herself out of bed and opened up her trunk to find something to wear.

"I'm gonna just read these to you while you get ready." Matty informed. "I'll read the summons first:

Miss Killious Enquirous

Headmaster Dumbledore has requested your presence in his office, please come as soon as you've tucked into a bit of breakfast and gotten dressed.

-A. Dumbledore

"Right, that'll be fun." Illy sighed and continued to search for things to wear. "Sexy… sexy…sexy" She continued to mumbled as she searched.

"The next is the owl…it's from Draco, 'Illy, tell your boyfriend that you're going to see your parents in Sacramento, that's where they are at the moment, and when the carriage drops you off don't ring the doorbell, it's for the best I promise. Be a good little girl and do as I say, Draco' That's a kinky little note Illy." Matty smiled.

"Yeah, just super." Illy mumbled before finally deciding on a change of clothing. Matty turned around and continued speaking while Illy changed into Draco's jeans, a black and grey striped tanktop, and Draco's hoodie.

"What happened to sexy?"

"Fuck sexy." She said as she rushed out the door.

"Professor Dumbledore." Illy called to the gargoyle that stood guard over Dumbledore's office.

"Appointment slip." It requested as it jutted out a hand and yawned. She handed over the slip of paper. "Knock on the door when you get to the top of the stairs." The gargoyle instructed before moving out of the way so that Illy could pass.

"Thank you." She said with a smile as she headed upwards. She knocked twice with the griffin knocker and stood back.

"Come in." Replied the voice behind the door, just before it slid open of its own accord. Illy stepped inside the cluttered but comfortable office.

"You summoned me Headmaster." She said in a confident voice.

"Good, none of that shy stuff from you is there Killious?"

"My reputation precedes me." She said sweetly.

"Indeed it does. How have you been Killious, I haven't seen you since before the start of term."

"I've been…busy. But as I'm sure you know, I'm doing fine with my school work."

"Oh, I know you've been busy. Quite the answer seeker as I've seen. And I think you've spent more time outside of this school than any other first year." He said with a twinkling, knowing smile.

"I do try." She said, breaking into a grin and taking a seat.

"Well, that is all excellent, because you're here due to the fact that a certain friend of yours has gotten you out off campus yet again, though I'm not sure if I would volunteer to rise so early. Professor Snape told me about your chat through our lovely floo network here in the school fireplaces."

"I don't get much rest anyway." She said honestly. Dumbledore chuckled.

"I suppose you don't. But it's Servius' responsibility to guide you along the reasons as to why, and I will not interfere unless I must."

"But you just have." Illy said. "You've just made a point of rousing my curiosity, so that I will ask Servius for answers."

"Professor Snape."

"Any time I'm not in his class he's my friend, not my teacher, but if it bothers you…"

"No, go ahead, just my formalities."

"As I was saying, your audible decision not to interfere was in itself an interference."

"Quite a bit more trouble than I seem, aren't I?"

"Indeed." Illy agreed, feeling suddenly as though she should be wise beyond her years and philosophical in Dumbledore's presence.

"Now, onto the matters at hand," Dumbledore began by clearing his throat. "Your friend will be taking you off the grounds by private escort. I'm sure that he has warned you not to ring the doorbell, as I am certain that Mr. Malfoy is having a gathering at his house that he neither wants his son absent for nor you present for. But what Draco does with his time is his own responsibility, where your time is my own, as you have decided to stay with us through the holidays. I will tell you that your parents really are in Sacramento, a city in the United States, and that you should probably tell your friends that you are going to visit them, as it will make my job much easier." He spouted out the words like a fountain, bubbly and bright.

"Thank you sir." Was Illy's only response.

"Of course, now I'm sure you should dismiss yourself from Harry and the rest of your friends discreetly before heading out to the front gates where a ministry escort and personal friends of Lucious Malfoy will pick you up."

"Yes Sir." Illy rose from her chair.

"One last thing." Dubledore urged. "I would like you to take a protective pendant with you, just in case. I know about your…strained relationship with Mr. Malfoy." He said as he passed her a small red pendant on black leather cord.

"I'll keep it on at all times." Illy replied, and left the office with a smile.

"Harry, I'm really sorry." Illy apologized sincerely before she took her seat next to Harry.

"About last night or this morning?" He asked with an aggravated scowl.

"Both… and for later today." She stammered out in a hurry as she nodded good morning to everyone else at the table. Fred and George glanced at one another nervously, clearly worried as to whether or not she would be informing Harry about their escapades from the night before.

"What are you talking about? Just tell me where you were?" Harry demanded confidently, though confusion was still clearly written across his face.

"Last night I fell asleep. I was exhausted after the library, I meant to wake up and explain to you why I was so rude, I honestly did. But I didn't wake up until late at night, well four in the morning actually, you can ask Matty, she woke up when I came in from the common room, where I fell asleep." She said in a rush as she passed the book she had borrowed from Hermione the afternoon before back to her. Harry still had a blank expression on his face, as though he were waiting for more. Illy cleared her throat and continued. "And then this morning I was late because Dumbledore requested that I go see him as soon as I got dressed which actually brings us to why I'll be gone for the rest of the day…My parents requested to see me in Sacramento for the holiday, I can't stay though, so I'm just going for the day. And Actually I need to get going now." She said as she checked her watch. Harry looked stunned.

"So…so you're leaving again?" He asked with a disappointed look on his face. Illy smiled and leaned to give him a kiss. His lips met hers shyly at first, and then eagerly. He leaned in closer and pushed against her mouth forcibly; his tongue pressed itself against her lips harshly, she tried at first to tighten them against him, but as he clamped a hand down on her thigh she pulled open her mouth in shock and he pushed his tongue farther into her mouth with no hesitation. She had to use both hands to push him back from her,

"Harry…we're at breakfast." She whispered out in a seething tone, feeling the heat in her face rise. Harry looked aggravated but when she gestured towards all of their friends who were staring blankly at them in disbelief he blushed and gave her a last little kiss on the mouth.

"Sorry love." He apologized with a shrug. Illy was mortified by his lack of genuine care for the situation he had just created.

"I-I'm going to head to meet my ride. I'll see you all later." She said with a wave as she rose from the table. Hermione and George gave her feeble goodbye's, but Ron and Fred were silent as they watched her leave the room.

"What was that all about?" Fred asked the second she was out of ear shot.

"I don't know, you'd think she's trying to avoid me." Harry said as he leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.

"I think he meant you." Ron said shyly.

"What did I do?" Harry asked incredulously.

"You practically swallowed her head!" Fred shot back.

"She my girl, so I don't think that's your business."

"That doesn't mean she's your property or something. She clearly had some reservations of decency about the whole thing."

"And how would you know that?"

"She forcibly pushed you off of her Harry." Hermione said in a small voice.

"She's just shy. I don't need this right now, Ron lets go." Harry said as he stood up to leave.


	34. 33 More in common than we wanted

AN: Good stuff in this one…For those of you who care, this chapter marks 150 pages in Microsoft Word, meaning I have probably invested far too much of my life in this story

AN: Good stuff in this one…For those of you who care, this chapter marks 150 pages in Microsoft Word, meaning I have probably invested far too much of my life in this story.-Richard S.

Disclaimer: I do not own the poem Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allen Poe

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 33

"He requested that you just wait for him in front of the house, but I daresay you might want to stay in the car." The driver of the ministry vehicle suggested. Illy nodded in agreement, she had almost frozen to death when she opened the door, just seconds ago. There was a blizzard whirling around the car, threatening to overturn it with gale force winds at any moment. She stared out the window at the large fortress like building just outside, the grounds around it were decorated with large ice sculptures and topiaries that must have been kept alive through magic, as their leaves were not only a silvery blue, bust still clung tightly to the wood of the ornately sculpted branches. Illy smiled as she recognized the figure of Draco Malfoy fighting against the winds to get to the vehicle. She moved across the seat and pushed open the door so that he could take the spot in which she had just been sitting. He slammed the door, sealing the winds out with it.

"Dodger, can you try to hurry." He instructed the driver, before pushing a button that slid a partition across the gap between the front and back of the car.

"I didn't realize that ministry vehicles were your personal drivers." Illy said sarcastically.

"Don't be ridiculous. My father doesn't do the horrible things he does to be paid poorly." Draco said with a smile.

"Dumbledore said that your Dad was planning a lunch or something he wanted you at."

"He settled for morning tea. I was hoping to get away with less than that and pick you up at Hogwarts myself, but it didn't work out." He pulled off his large, fur lined jacket along with his green and silver scarf.

"And where are we going? Oh, here I brought this for you." She passed him a small hard back notebook before he could answer her question. He flipped it open for a second or two.

"Thanks." He said as he shut it and tied the leather strap it was bound with in a hurry. "We're heading to take you shopping."

"Draco you are so preposterously outlandish it's hard to believe."

"No, I'm just eccentrically. It comes with the money and insane family." He said, as he moved closer to her.

"You're going to keep me away from my boyfriend for another day just so you can please any little fancy of yours?"

"No, I'm going to keep you from your boyfriend because I believe he is a dangerously violent person who could very well commit homicide. And because I missed having you around to fight with everything I do."

"Well that makes me so much happier than my assumptions."

"Shut up and be ecstatic like you know you want to be." He said in a pushy voice as he put an arm around Illy's shoulder and pulled her towards him. She was quiet and stiff.

"You're freezing cold, now stop trying to make it seem like I'm coming on to you and get comfortable." Draco commanded. Illy sighed and gave in, tucking herself comfortable under his arm, close to his chest. "Have you been eating enough?"

"I just didn't get breakfast this morning."

"Did you eat at all yesterday?"

"Draco please, I'm really not in the mood to explain myself to anyone at the moment."

"Fine, just tell me about your dreams last night then." He half whispered.

"It was the same as the last one…only I couldn't control it…and it went on longer."

"Go on…"

"It was like my other dreams when I couldn't do anything but watch from someone else's body. Only, this time I wasn't shy or upset or scared, I was just perfectly alright with what had happened. And then…and this tells me that it had to have been you in the bed, not your father, because your father started calling you. I hid in the closet and he was yelling about how the mudblood was missing and things, cursing a lot and calling me a whore, and you just told him I must have been out for a run…so he gave up and left, but before he did he…he told you…look its in there just give it to me, I scratched it down on the way here, so just let me show you." She took the book and flipped it open to her most recent dream. She usually transcribed things better than she told them anyway. In fact, her transcriptions were usually almost perfect quotes of things said and seen.

"Illy, how could I have know, what do you mean you realized. Explain this to me." Draco pleaded, looking miserable as he held up the book as though it were a Rubik's cube. His voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked at him blankly for a moment, and then, as she focused on his eyes she could fill in all of his questions mentally, _how could I have known…he would be loosing his home the next day. What did you realize when you looked down at yourself?_

"I guess you knew he was going to loose the house because I told you…like in one of my visions. And what I realized when I saw my body was…Draco, it was you in that bed with that girl but…she couldn't have been me." It looked to him as though she was in pain as she spoke, she didn't want it to be true. She wanted to be the girl in bed with him, and it was upsetting for her to have to admit otherwise, even if she didn't realize it just yet.

"Why do you say that?" He asked, taking both of her hands into his.

"Draco…I don't look like that. I'm pale, and…and…well I mean look at me." She gestured to her body. Draco snorted at her arrogantly.

"What you think that I'll let you live your whole life as a malnourished stick figure?"

"Draco…her breasts were the size of my head." She replied sarcastically.

"I doubt that, but even so, my hair was down my back, so who are you to decide what you'll look like in the future? You said last night that I was taller and more muscular, so I work out more in the future, and you get a great rack. Is that such a bad fate to resign yourself to?"

"Draco, stop trying to make it fit just because you want it to be me." She crossed her arms and moved several inched across the seat from him.

"In that case, stop trying to make yourself believe that we won't be together." He said as he effortlessly uncrossed her arms and pulled her to him. She was about to say something when the partition began to slide back. He pushed her off of him quickly, almost shoving her right into the door across the car.

"We're here." Dodger said with a smile before closing the partition again.

"Sorry…you know my dad." Draco said apologetically as he gathered Illy back into his arms. "Come on, let's go." She said coldly as she pushed open the car door. Draco stood and took her hand as she exited the vehicle. "I think I can do it myself."

"Just because I'm an asshole doesn't mean I'm not a gentleman." He said with a lewd smile. "Now, which shop shall it be first?" He gestured towards the busy street in front of them.

"Is this a muggle city?"

"Of course, you're school robes are fine, much better looking than your outfit today actually." He said as he looked down at her torn jeans and oversized hoodie.

"Yeah, well you said sexy, and Harry thinks I'm sexy in everything."

"Quit acting like you don't miss me." He said as he took her hand and led her into the first store.

"I don't miss you nearly as much as you seem to miss me, because I have yet to interfere with your relationships with other women or pseudo-kidnap you." She replied with a roll of her eyes as he started handing things to a store attendant.

"And that's why you're wearing my clothing." He said with a smirk. "Now, follow the nice lady to the dressing room and try this stuff on like a good little girl."

Illy's afternoon felt like a blur of one over priced outfit after the next, none of which she had paid for. She realized in their third little shop full of designer clothing and gowns, that this must be how a doll felt; to be dressed up in a thousand other people's clothing. Not just their clothing, but their very personalities; she was an ethereal tree worshipper one moment in ankle length, hand stitched, wrap around skirts, hand beaded string bikinis, flowing white linen pants, and barely there tanktops. Her skin looking deceivingly tan as she clipped in wooden earrings, slid on bangles, and tied hemp jewelry to match. In this guise she was a woman of beeches, reading tarot cards in the moonlight and braiding her hair in the morning sun. Next she was a glamorous citizen of wherever she pleased, dresses tight in all the right places, some of them with flowing bottoms to her knees, others with equally tight cutoffs just bellow her buttocks, but all of them with matching heels and bright splashing colors that went well with white gloves, cashmere sweaters, sun glasses, and even more preposterous a large white sunhat. She could have walked into any store in a large town and been mistaken for someone famous in those clothing. Then she was a woman from another time era, floating through a vintage store in shorts that came up too high on her stomach, but still made sure to cut off brusquely, heavily bodiced tops printed with polka dots and trimmed in lace, fifties flower print dresses with high waisted belts, buckling mary-jane shoes, thick heeled pumps with buttons, and a one piece white swimsuit. It was like something from a musically, all she needed was bright red lipstick and a song. Finally it seemed she had rejoined her correct bearings in time when she walked into the fourth shop with Draco,

"All we need now are clothing you can wear in this freezing cold weather and gowns." He smiled at her as she put out a hand, waiting for him to have her try on some ridiculous pair of jeans that surely cost a human soul. He looked at her blankly.

"Come on, I know its coming so just load me up and I'll be off to the dressing room with myself." She said in a tone that showed just too quickly how preposterous she had found their afternoon to be.

"What?" He still looked confused, as though he'd only just walked into the room and it was his twin handing over muggle money like it was just a few little beads and some string he'd found in his pocket.

"You've been walking into stores all day throwing clothes at me so that I can model them for you and you can run off to the cashier to buy them while I feebly protest."

"You don't like them?"

"I didn't say that. I love them…" And then she realized that she was no doll in fact. She had been every one of those women with gusto, as though she was what really reigned over their simple lives, no matter how many years ago they lived.

"We'll take them back if you don't like them…I only tried to pick things up I though you'd like." He said, seeming broken hearted, as though he'd just cut her a diamond and she turned her nose up to it with disgust.

"No Draco I love them…I didn't mean to…they're perfect." She said resolutely as she took his hands in her face, beaming a smiled down at him.

"I guess I'm being a bit like my Mother, aren't I? Shoving everything I want to at you and expecting you to like it as much as I do." She could see now that he had been worried this would happen. A part of him was half expecting himself to become the tyrannical obsessor that we was with other people.

"Draco, I've never met your mother, I wouldn't know. But you're doing fine; I'm just grouchy because I'm hungry." She explained as she pulled him into a hug. He stood limp for a fraction of a second, before wrapping both arms around her waist. When she released him he was smiling again.

"Let get lunch first then. We can come back." She thought about fighting with him, but it would be pointless, and she honestly would have rather enjoyed a sandwich before facing up to more boutique monsters.

He led her to a café across the street where she ordered a tuna salad sandwich, white tea, and a bit of the lemon cake in the display. Draco opted for tomato soup and a second fork for the cake. The waitress blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably as she took their order, and at first Illy couldn't understand why, but when she looked back at Draco it was too clear, his gaze was something private. His eyes were fixed on her, a subject for his passions at the moment, all the fire of fighting with the world diverted suddenly to staring at her with a gaze that even she wanted to blush at. He was making love to her in that stare, not having sex, not ravaging her body, just making love to every bit of her eyes, her nose, the hair in her face, her lips, her cheeks, even her chin was being caressed by love at the moment.

"What on earth are you think about when you look at me like that?" She asked, feeling as though she stood in nothing but a negligee in front of the whole café.

"I'm making love to you, to your eyes and your nose and the hair in your face," He said as he pushed it aside. She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat as he continued, "and your lips-"

"And my cheeks and even my chin is being made love to at the moment isn't it?" She asked in a dazed whisper.

"You read my mind." He said, meaning to be seductive, but only serving to make her want to distance herself from all the people on earth even more.

"Actually yes I did. Though I believe your exact words were that my chin was being 'caressed by love at the moment'. Mine description was a bit less chintzy romance novel."

"Y-yeah…that shit still freaks me out." He said, breaking the mood around them and making the whole café turn back to its prospective tables, now that the handsome blond boy was done making love to the pretty raven haired girls face.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to, I swear. I think I pick things up better if they're stronger emotions, sort of like I see it in your face so I'm expecting it." She played with her thumbs until the food came. No one spoke while they picked at their food, silently wishing the other would say something.

"Sorry about that mess back their in the shop, guess I get overly apologetic some times."

"It's ok. Besides, I think that I just got a glimpse at how that mother of yours is going to act. It was like you were certain that you'd be forcing clothing onto my body or something." Draco chuckled nervously.

"That girl wasn't the only person in the house my Father played head games with…He sort of breaks you down to a point where you feel like you've committed murder if you have to apologize." He said with a sigh as he pushed Illy's little book across the table. She picked it up and tucked it into her purse.

"Draco, those weren't head games, they were sexual abuse, not to mention terrible beatings." She wanted to crush the heated sound in her voice. Draco hadn't done anything, he had just misspoken, but it seemed like a crime somehow, and the harsh tone was still clear, though stifled. No one should ever undermine what had happened in those dreams.

"They were head games too. He always played them. The way he left the door cracked sometimes, he wanted her to try and escape. The way he told her about her being his ticket out of Azkaban, those were head games, he wanted her to realize how vital she was to his existence, but how little she meant as a person…" His voice was pained.

"You really did go see her didn't you?" She asked, her heart thumping loudly in anticipation as she did so. This would be proof that she wasn't just a psychopath with fucked up dreams, these things really happened to a human being.

"Yeah I did. He's going to find the coat that I gave her some time in your dreams…I don't know what he does to her, but it's worse than what he did to me; he told me it was her fault the whole time he hit me...the whole time he forced his own memories of what he had done in the past in to my head. He said that her mixed blood was to blame. But he couldn't stop there…he was too busy playing with our heads to realized what he was doing to his own kid…" His words seemed to be jumping off the cliff he was wishing for as he spoke. Illy moved her chair along the table, closer to him. She laced her fingers through his and spoke softly,

"What did he do to you?"

"He made me…" She could she the start of a tear forming in his eyes. "He made he practice on her. Usually it was animals, if I messed up a spell, if the torture wasn't right, if they didn't squeal enough and he thought that I was being merciful…I had to kill them." The tears loosed from their fortresses behind his steely eyes. "He made me practice on a living person. A little girl…she was nothing but skin and bones. He barely fed her, she was sore everywhere already…" He was now moaning out the words like a murder confession. "He told me that if I made mistakes, if anything wasn't perfect, that I would have to kill her…I was ten years old Illy…ten. She was the only friend I had in that place with a heart. He beat her and raped her and she sat there scared shitless for the first few times I came to see her, but after a while she spoke. She talked to me, we laughed. Damnit she hadn't laughed in years and you could tell. She shrieked the first time she heard her own laugh, told me someone was coming. And there I was, standing in front of her like some goon, staring at her naked bruised little body. I couldn't look at her face when I did it." His tears were soaking through her shirt. She was afraid that the notebook would come up over lunch; he had been sneaking peaks at it whenever she retreated into a changing room. But this was so much more than she had thought… "I was perfect that night. Not a flaw in form. She screamed so loud that my mother actually got out of bed and came to the cellar door. He made her leave, said to go back to bed. When he first brought her, she had screamed a little. If he was there while I was playing near the door I could hear it. Two stories underground surrounded by stone, behind two thick wooden doors, I heard her; only for a week or so. But this was like nothing I'd ever heard. I hadn't just tortured a little girl while my father laughed…I had broken her heart. She never stopped screaming that loud when I had to practice on her; every time the whole house was full of her screams." Illy's great whelping tears were silent as they slid down her cheeks. She had to be quiet while this boy of alabaster and gold spoke about things that he had never told anyone before. She was letting him bleed there in her arms, his body shaking while moans of agony and self hatred rang out. "When it was over, when my father had gone to bed that night, I snuck back down the stairs. I brought her more food than she could eat. I brought the fur from the lounge, potions from the medicine cabinet, even a bit of rum to nock her out so that she could get some sleep and heal. She was still writhing in pain when I got there. I was so terrified to open that door, to see her hate me…she didn't hate me though Killy, she just got up and threw herself on me. She sobbed on me, hugging me as tight as she could. I fell in love as a ten year old kid that night with some little girl who couldn't remember her name, who got molested by my father on a weekly basis. I couldn't help myself. I kissed her. That was the last thing she needed right? What girl who endures all of that needs someone to kiss her? But she kissed me back, and she balled herself up next to me, and cried for another thirty minutes." His voice was hoarse from trying not to scream. Illy's shirt was soaked, full of salty tears and pain. She stroked his hair and whispered out "shhhs," and "It'll be okay" into his hair as he let himself shake with grief for several minutes. He cleared his throat to continue, she almost wanted to stop him, to tell him it was too much. After all, she had been this girl so many nights. She knew exactly what if felt like when his father forced himself on her, she knew just how the split of bones felt in her leg, across her ribs. But this was his cleansing, so she pushed the tears back from his eyes with her fingers and whipped the snot from his nose with her already soaked shirt. "I thought for a second, while she was laying there next to me that it was done. I thought that in a week we could run away together, that everything could be alright then…he made me go back two days later. He said that he was proud of how well I'd done and that my inability to master the dark arts was clearly based on my needing a human on which to practice. It went on for years…until I went to Hogwarts. Sometimes just after he had finished having me almost kill my best friend he would make me go upstairs…I could hear the sounds of him fucking her before I made it up the steps." His words were bitter now, horribly, righteously, angry. "It didn't matter to her, every time I would come back when he was asleep. We would eat dinner together, sometimes I would read to her, sometimes we just talked or cried. Most of the time she just held me for an hour or two before I could even get her to eat…She told me one day when I was reading her Annabelle Lee to her that she loved me…I went to the store that week with my mother. I stole her a necklace. I wouldn't let my father's dirty money pay for something that I was going to give to her. When I gave it to her she kissed me…it was the first time that she had kissed me. That night I couldn't sleep. I was down to the basement the next day when my father went out, and I was there at least once a day every day from then on. She was the only thing that kept me tied to that house. It seemed like every time I pealed her skin back, or sliced her open, or blistered her back until it boiled over in ruptured skin and blood she only held me tighter. She would kiss my skin over and over again wherever her head happened to fall. For two years I was only alive when I was in the room with her, I learned as many healing spells as I did ones to cause damage with. After a while I couldn't make it in the door without her toppling me over and covering my face and hands with little impish kisses. I knew that it was wrong, that I was taking advantage of a little girl in desperate need of some kind of love, but how could I say no? I was smitten Killy. When she pushed her little hands through my hair and jumped to meet me at the door, with her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, she was an unchanging glimpse of something good. She never grew, not one bit, my father started to make her vomit every time he came, I could hear her retching for hours when I leaned my head against the door to the basement. He put it in potions that he made her drink, he knew I was feeding her, but he preferred playing with both of our heads. She must have been ten or eleven near the end, but she looked like she was six years old. Short and skinny, while I got taller, I looked like a school kid but, I felt like a filthy old man when I walked down the steps and opened the door to find her standing a foot beneath me, with a face so young that I wouldn't recognize her if I saw her today. While I just kept growing…then one day she tried to get out. She made it up the stairs…she found me. But he was too close behind her, he drug her back down the hall by her hair, all the way down the stairs by her hair, throwing her up against walls every chance he got. The bones in her leg had been fucked up so badly that it literally split in half, you could see them poking out through the skin. I didn't know what to do…I called Dumbledore. He sent Snape…he won't talk to me about her. He won't tell me who she was or where she went. I think it's because she died. My love got taken away by my father, and my inability to save her, and even my people I thought I could trust. And now she's gone…my first love…my first kiss…and the little girl that I'm still terrified of to this day. Damnit Killy that Boggart was right on the first try, she haunts me." His eyes were dry now. He was just murmuring on her shoulder; his voice raw from the tears that dried like salt grains on his skin.

"Draco…can I tell you the truth, without you fighting me?" She asked in a half whisper.

"Go ahead." He said bitterly.

"You were wrong to feel like you'd taken advantage of her. I know, I've been her before. I've woken up thinking I would have the same sores I had watched her be given…she loved you. You were just what she needed." He smiled a little.

"I used to look at her like that…and she would ask me what I was thinking when I made that face…I would tell her the same thing, 'I'm making love to your eyes…and your nose…'" He let out a fresh whelping sob before he could finish the sentence. "I'm stabbing her in the back right now. I'd be breaking her heart all over if she were here, listening to me tell you the same things, knowing that I felt the same way…" He slumped back into her shoulder. She pulled him closer with both arms.

"What did you call her?" Illy whispered into his hair.

"Beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, perfect, everything…Names identify a person, they give you a way of describing another being…so I described her. I called her princess one night…that's what made her laugh that first time." He was drying his eyes again now. "I'm done crying. I'm going to go clean up in the bathroom. We can actually eat lunch then." He said through a red eyed grin. Illy nodded and watched him leave.

He was gone for a few minutes and she tried her best not to think. It was useless though, in one moment she was making herself promises that she would never starve herself again, just because Draco had already nursed one starving child. The next second she was telling herself that she needed to get away from him, he was projecting his love for that girl onto her just because she had dreamt about her. She was angry at Snape for not explaining where she went to him. She wanted to kill Lucious Malfoy more than she wanted to keep breathing. She wanted to kill him for everything he had done and everything he would do to Draco and the women he loved. Suddenly a thought occurred to her that she almost kicked herself for not realizing earlier, what if both of the girls in her dreams were the same person. The girl could just be a muggle, she could have no magic in her at all, maybe Draco would find her and she would end up in his bed one sunny morning. Maybe Snape was afraid that Lucious would try to kill her if word got out as to where she was…and now she knew…she had to stay away from Draco, she had to keep telling him no, even if it felt perfect. Because somewhere out there, was a girl whom he still loved, whom he still needed. And somehow he was going to find her, and she couldn't be there to stand in his way if the time came.

"I'm sorry I ruined your shirt." Draco apologized as he sat down at the table again.

"You've bought me plenty of new ones." She said with a smile. He nodded and started his soup. His eyes weren't puffy anymore, and his face was back to a pallid, calm white. She had to stop staring at him. This wasn't a game of who could hold out for the other person the longest anymore. She needed to make herself realize that this was a one sided war against herself; she needed to stay with Harry or someone…anyone but him.

"Eat something, please Illy." He said as he pulled her plate from across the table to her. She nodded and finished the sandwich before he was halfway through his soup.

"Holly shit…" He looked dazed down at the plate that had once had her food. "Did you eat that all in one bite or something?"

"I'll eat Draco… For you I'll eat. I won't remind you of her anymore." She promised him. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. He was glad she was eating, no one should starve themselves, but he wanted her to remind him of her. It was important that someone remind him of how they used to tease each other childishly, just to vent. He needed to tend someone, to take care of them, to have them cry when he left. He needed her back and Illy was the closest thing he'd come across. Part of him was hoping, when he read through the dreams, that Illy was her. He knew it was a horrible thing to hope for, but there were too many coincidences.

"So…won't it make you sick if you eat that much at once?" He asked as she took a bite of they cake they had ordered.

"Nah, I think I'll be alright. I ate twenty-three puddings the other night and that made me sick, but this is just a sandwich, I'll be fine."

"Why did you eat that much pudding?"

"Ron said he could out eat me. So of course we settled it with quidditch first, but Harry caught the snitch when were at nine to four in my favor, so he won. But we decided to settle it the old fashioned way in the end. And I ate more than Ron, Fred, George, Lupin, Harry, and Hermione." She said with a triumphant smile.

"There's something wrong with your head."

Killious and Draco finished shopping by four thirty. She was sure that she now had more clothing than she could wear in a year, which only served to make Draco insist that it was vital to her survival at his home over the summer for the entire ride home.

"Killy, you'll change four times a day I swear."

"Draco, I could clothe all the girls in our school for a good week and a half with this much clothing."

"Besides, we'll just make it bigger as you grow, so you can keep it around."

"Do you mean to tell me you have no more shopping trips planned for the rest of the summer?"

"Well…you never did get gowns…so there's those, and I didn't really do much shopping for me, so if we happen to get some things for you while I'm out then it won't really be planned for you."

"Were you denied dolls as a child?"

"Yes, yes I was."

"Should I just go get a few wigs next time then?"

"No...I was thinking next time we'll splurge on lingerie."

"You will not be buying my underwear." She said firmly.

"I don't understand why you're being so fussy about all of this, I just bought you a new wardrobe, and it's not even all that extensive. I mean I have closets full of clothing."

"I'm not a Malfoy, I don't have a gene that makes me compulsively spend money."

"It's actually the Black. My dad hates to shop, Mum buys it all."

"About your Dad…I'm not sure I can deal with that over the sum-" Draco pushed a finger to her lips to keep her from speaking.

"If he so much as lays one finger on you, I'll have him in prison."

"Just don't leave me alone in that house." She said as she moved closer to him in the car. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, just as he had done on the ride over.

"You can even sleep in my bed." He said with a smirk. The car stopped outside the Hogwarts grounds, free of blizzard, thought still lightly dusted in snow. Draco handed Illy her new coat, it was just a puffy as his, only it was white and lined with tan fur, where his was black on grey. He started to open the door, but she stopped his hand.

"Give me a goodbye kiss." She whispered. If she was going to be able to make it through several years of school and the coming summer with him, staying out of the way for the day that girl showed up, she had to know that she had really said goodbye to the idea of him being more than her best friend.

"You have a boyfriend." He reminded her.

"You don't care anyway." She replied. Before he could come up with something else to say she had pressed her lips delicately to his. He closed his eyes and put his hands around her waist, just inside her coat. Her fingertips slid from his jaw up to his hair, and then she let him go.

"Goodbye Draco." She said before opening the door for herself and getting out of the car.

"Bye." He whispered as she left.


	35. 34 Christmas!

AN: Consider this extra long chapter my apologies for delays

AN: I apologize for the lack of updates over these last few summer weeks, but I've been out of town, I'll do my best to get things up more often now. However, my computer is down for the count, and all I have access to is an older laptop with nothing beyond a word program, so forgive sluggishness while I mooch and internet connection off my friends. Hope any readers that are in classes enjoyed their breaks, -Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 34

Illy walked shyly towards the great hall, she could already see Ron's flaming head of red hair poking up higher than most of the third years.

"Ron." She greeted him with a hug.

"Decided to join us for dinner?" He asked with a goofy smile.

"Yeah, where're Herm and Harry?"

"On their way; Hermione's really killing herself with all of this stuff about Buckbeak, but she told Harry she was on to something about that whacko murderer Black, the two of them are up in the library. I couldn't take it anymore, I've been in the library more than I have outside so, I came down here to wait."

"I'm glad someone was here. I was worried that I'd just be sitting around for the next ten minutes on my own."

"How're your mum and dad?" Ron aksed, suddenly remembering why Illy had been gone most of the day.

"Oh…they're erm…they're good. Sacramento isn't all that interesting, but they're mostly there to get away from work for a little while."

"Too bad they didn't take you for the whole winter break. If my parents were off on holiday I'd be right angry if they cocked it up so that I couldn't come too."

"They're only staying there for a few days…at some spa thing. Taking mud baths and nonsense like that." She lied, using previous vacations to less magical areas as a reference.

"Nice coat. D'they get it for you?" Ron asked, looking enviously over the clearly expensive garment.

"Yeah…my mum and I went shopping together." Illy replied with a weak smile. Ron looked as though he was considering testing the waters as to how much gold Illy's parents made, but in stead he announced Harry and Hermione's entrance.

"Hermione," Illy said before giving her friend a hug. "What did you two find out while I was gone?"

"Not too much…actually nothing. It was a wild goose chase. Really all that we found was a bit of mention to the Black's as a whole. Just a bunch of rubbish about their hating mixed and muggle borns, and bullocks like that." She explained with a flip of her hand. Illy nodded politely and then turned to Harry. She threw her arms around his neck.

"I missed you today." She whispered endearingly into his ear.

"I was worried you'd miss dinner." He said when she released him and let him take her hand, so that he could lead them into the dinning room. Fred and George were no where in sight, normally this would mean that Illy would dismiss herself from the group and instead go sit with her own table, but somehow she got the feeling that it might upset some of the people around her given her current dating status.

"How was the trip?" Hermione asked casually.

"Her parents're just off doing muggle stuff…bought her a new coat though." Ron answered for Illy.

"I was asking _her_." Hermione retorted with a hand gesture towards Illy.

"Well, I'd just asked her, so it was kind of pointless to make a scene out of it…sides it's not like I lied to you about what they did or something, I just summarized it." Ron said indignantly.

"There are some things that those of us without a Y chromosome share with each other that would be far beyond your realm of comprehension Ronald." Hermione spat back. Both Ron and Harry exchanged glances with one another, looking befuddled. "Now, if I may ask Killious about her holiday?" She asked Ron for mock permission.

"Just as long as you keep it in code like that, it's bloody funny." He said as he shoveled mash and meatloaf onto his plate. Illy sighed at him and served herself salad, a dinner role, and a small serving of meatloaf, taking care to glance over towards where Draco normally sat. She was hoping to see him smiling at her for her distinguishably larger plate, but he was, to her disappointment, still on holiday like everyone else.

"Now Killious, how was your holiday?" Hermione asked for the second time, though now she seemed quite a bit more on edge.

"The weather was good. Sacramento wasn't that cold, no snow right now actually. My parents were staying in a resort, one of the ones with the daily spa treatments and exercise programs and stuff like that. I still don't see why they like those things so much, but after my mum was up in the Swiss Alps a few winters back and went to try out a massage in a little resort she's been hooked." Illy said brightly.

"But you did other stuff with them than just sit around up to your necks in mud and get rubbed down right?" Hermione said with a sudden feeling that maybe Illy's parents really did avoid her.

"Yeah, my mum and I went for a bit of shopping, but we popped back over to this side of the ocean for that, and then my dad and I got a cappuccino...but that was about it." She added, trying to convince the ever perceptive Hermione that her parents' behavior was most normal to their usual treatment of their daughter.

"Well, I'm glad you made it back for dinner." Said Harry, as he squeezed her hand lightly. The rest of the meal was lightly littered with question that burst forth from Ron as though he had jinxed into saying whatever was on his mind, such as: 'Why would you bathe in mud?' 'Do you actually do that naked?' 'You really just let people you don't know rub you down while you have nothing but a towel on?' followed by a tragically loud whisper towards Harry that resounded across the table as, 'What all do you think they'll rub down?' which landed him a slap on the back of the head from Hermione. After her simply enchanting meal time conversation Illy headed straight back to the dorm to catch up on the homework she claimed that she had been skipping out on, which made Hermione go into a frenzy over the boys finishing their work; both boys looked like they had just seen the grim as they were drug from the hall off towards essays they had not even put thought into.

Illy gathered her quill and parchment and started working on the potions essay she was half way through. Working without Jackquinn and Clause was, if nothing else, very unnerving. She kept feeling like any answer she couldn't find, could be discovered simply by looking up at her two friends and asking them, though, come to think of it, she really didn't consider Clause much of a friend these days. Illy therefore sat and toyed with the idea of convincing Hermione and Jackquinn to work with each other, though after Jacky called Ron a ginger, among other things, she doubted that it would work. This went on for some ten or fifteen minutes before she noticed a purple sheet of paper with blue ink stuck to the notice board.

Like everything else in the Slytherin common room, the notice board was very organized, and more importantly, very non dependant on manual labor. If anyone wanted to put up a notice they simple had to request the board to write it, at which time a bit of always perfectly legible silver writing would work its way across the board to a clear space on the black board. Old notices cleared away when their expiration date passed, and new ones were bordered with a bit of green to draw attention to them, so when Illy spotted a piece of paper actually stuck to the notice board in such a bright color, it was a bit startling. As she took the piece of paper down for reading, Illy realized that it must have been several days old, because the board was trying steadily to erase its words, though it found itself unable. Illy resumed her seat to read the notice:

Dear you,

Meet me next Friday in the Hogwarts tunnel to Honeydukes, if

you can't find it, or don't know where it is just ask Harry Potter.

He can tell you where it is. I'd rather prefer if we could avoid

Jumping out of any windows though.

-me

The note on jumping out of windows had her rather assured that it was her mysterious friend but what seemed to perplex Illy was how old the note was. It must have been there for over five days, which was usually how long the board let personal notices stick around, so next Friday must mean…in four days. She folded the note and slipped it into her bag before continuing to finish the essay and heading to bed.

_The cold damp air felt like nothing when she was tucked inside of his jacket. She snuggled deeper into the warm down interior, taking a deep breath. His smell was brilliant. It made her want to fall asleep here and never wake up again…but at the same time it made her never want to shut her eyes, for fear of missing his visits. It had been a week, he should be back soon. Her lips curved awkwardly at the thought…a smile. It had been a while since she'd had one of those; weeks…maybe months. He had been coming around once or twice a week for a while, and if he was sticking to routine he'd be showing up any day. She sat close to the door, aware of every sound that was being made above. Sir had already gone to bed, he'd come and gone, and now she was only hoping for young Sir to come. _

_The door at the top of the stairs creaked; she rushed to tuck the coat back into the niche she'd dug with her bare hands. She scampered back to her spot on the floor, prepared in case of the worst, for another of Sir's many friends to come through the door sneering and wringing his hands anxiously. But instead of a sniveling lusty looking man, at the door stood just who she had hoped for, smiling and holding a tray of steaming containers. _

"_Hey Lovely, I brought some soup, you like soup right?" He asked, suddenly looking unsure of the meal he had prepared. _

"_I…I missed you." Was the only reply she could manage to come up with before bounding up to where he stood. He had hardly put down the tray of food before she was clamoring to get into his arms. He smiled and, stumbling, found his way to the ground where they sat for several minutes, with her arms around his neck. _

"_You should eat, Skinny." He said, trying to pull her arms from his neck. She would have none of it, she only inched them a bit tighter around him and let her head rest on his shoulder. He cleared his throat nervously. _

"_You said quite a bit today…" He offered. She was still silent. She didn't like to talk much around him, it still felt odd to speak to anyone but Sir, and nothing she ever said to him was pleasant. Draco finally pulled her off of him. "I brought you something really special." He said. "See," He pulled a book from his jacket. Its cover was brown with gold lettering, the pages were old and yellowed, he flipped it open to a pre-marked spot. "It's a story book. I know you've been here for a while. I've tried to sneak down before I did, but…well look at it. It's got pictures and stuff, as well as words. I didn't know if you could read. But if you can't I'll teach you." She ran a finger across the page lightly, touching the painted face of a pretty blond girl. "They're fairy tales…My family got this book from the fairy's themselves a long time ago. This one's my favorite story." He pointed to the title. "See that's…well I don't want you to think I imagine you a fool, can you read or not?" He firmly asked. She only shook her head as a no. "Ok well we'll do it like this, I'm going to give you each letter and its sound as we go through the word, then we'll say the whole word. When we finish the story that way, I'll read the whole thing to you." He smiled and started with the faded pink title. "T-says t, H-says h, E- says e, I know it seems like that would sound funny together, but the T and the H sort of combine together with the E to say 'the' it's not that confusing usually though, 'the' is just a word you sort of have to memorize." She stared attentively, but he couldn't help but feel like she was lost. "Right then…next word, S-says s, T-says t, but when S and T go together we get the 'st' sound," He continued, one letter at a time through the title, 'The Stolen Princess' by the last 'S' the girl was saying things along with him. _

_"S," She began, "says" Draco continued, "s" they both let out a snake like sound. Draco nodded in approval and pulled the soup towards the two of them. "I'll stay here with you for the first sentence if you'll eat." She nodded in agreement, her relative silence resumed. Draco felt his words, heavy in the air as they ate. _

"_My mum and Dad have been fighting…it's about you. My mum wants him to get rid of you…I want you to know…if she gets her way, I'll come get you. He'd kill you. But I'd get you first, I have a good friend who could help. I'm sure of it. I don't think she'll win though, but it doesn't matter, one day I'll come get you anyway, I'll help, just like I promised." He sounded desperate, as though her lack of words in return was making his words somehow less true. "My Mum's not a bad person really. She knows…or some of it. About as much as me, well not quite that much, but you know she really thinks it's wrong. It's just that…sometimes…you're not the only one he hits, but it hasn't been so bad. He's been doing some special magic training with me, he still hits me then sometimes, when I get it wrong, but you've sort of made it so…he stops hitting her. It's wrong Dolly, I know it is…but somewhere inside of me, I'm really glad he did, even though what he's doing to you is the worst thing in the world, I swear to you, I know it's horrible, but I'm glad he's not hurting her anymore…" His voice trailed off._

_"Draco…I understand." She said briefly, just before returning to her soup. He smiled a little to her, then he leaned over to give her a hug. She was quite quiet for the rest of the time he went through the first sentence of the story, letter by letter, sound by sound. She nodded off to sleep on his shoulder after he finished…_

"Harry…" Illy began nervously, playing with her fingers behind her back all the while. Harry looked up from the book Hermione had given him.

"Yeah Illy?" He asked in an irritated voice.

"I was thinking about meals…and when term starts again and all my friends get back, well I think that I should eat breakfast with them, and then I can alternate lunches. That way I sit with both of you some." She suggested.

"Why would you want to sit with a bunch of obnoxious Slytherins?"

"They're not obnoxious, they're just…they're just witty, and smart, and they don't really feel obligated to not say things just because other people might take offence." She explained.

"Yeah, and why would you want to be around people like that?"

"Harry, she's got friends besides us." Hermione offered.

"Besides, she's dating you. Who cares who she acts like a jerk with?" Ron said ruefully.

"I told you Jackquinn was sorry Ron. He just got carried away. It's not like _us_ Slytherins are the only ones who say mean things." Illy retorted, shooting a glance back at Harry.

"Yeah, but…he called me a ginger snap, and said me and Harry were fags." Ron pouted.

"Well, in all honesty Ron, and I hate to break this to you, but you do have red hair and freckles, so…technically you qualify, though not for the gay thing." Illy replied jovially.

"You're just a stupid girl." He shot back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Hermione began.

"Just stop it you two!" Harry yelled, just a little bit too loud. "The meals thing is fine Illy." He said before pulled Ron out of the library with him.

"Did Jackquinn really call Ron a ginger snap?" Hermione asked after several minutes of silence. Illy looked up from her Herbology homework.

"Yeah, he did. Harry and Draco had a pretty bad fight last year, as I'm sure you know. Draco didn't exactly win, well, actually he got the shit kicked out of him, so Harry told Jackquinn to say something about it, you know how those two are. I figured you were around for all of this, but I guess it was just Ron…"

"So…in a way…Jacky was just sort of defending Draco?"

"Yeah, in a way, but it just sort of exploded and he said stuff about Ron, and then Harry said stuff about his mums being lesbians and just…I guess I know why people don't mingle amongst houses usually. This is just ridiculous, if it's not Harry getting mad about Draco, its Draco getting mad about Harry."

"I have a feeling this is less of a house to house thing, if you were in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff I doubt you'd have these issues…it's more of a Draco Harry conflict." Hermione said with understanding.

"Ron and Draco even bloody get along when Harry's not around! So do the twins, and Jacky doesn't mind Ron I promise, he was just there and…this is just so stupid."

"It is. I don't think I'll ever understand those two though…it's like they think their personal vendettas are fights between good and evil and both side is convinced they're good."

"And my dating Harry hasn't helped to aid that one bit." Illy said with a sigh.

"You Hermione Granger?" Matty's voice asked from behind the two girls.

"Yes."

"Someone asked me to have you put this on your house notice board." Matty said as she handed Hermione a small white sheaf of parchment.

"Thank you Matty." Hermione said, as Matty left. Illy winked at her and turned to Hermione,

"What's it say?"

"It doesn't have names on it or anything… 'Dear you, I'm dating someone now, and I don't think that jumping out of windows with strangers or running into dementors in the middle of the night would be good for the new relationship…I hope you find someone else too,' and it's signed 'me' guess it's an inter house relationship that they didn't want anyone to know about."

"That's too bad…I bet they would have made a good couple." Illy threw in for good measure…but now that she thought about it…they probably would have.

Christmas-eve dinner was a quiet affair, more anxious than anything, so Illy found it easy to slip away from everyone, off towards Snape's office, the minute that dinner was over.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning Harry, what's the password again?" She asked him.

"It should be ungle-fungus, but that's only if she doesn't change it by morning." Harry sighed.

"Ok, I'll be there, but if I'm not there when you get up, go check outside just in case." She gave him a quick kiss and headed towards the dungeons.

"Servius." Illy called from the other side of his office door. The door swung open and slapped against the stone wall behind it loudly. Illy swallowed and walked inside the office slowly.

"Killious Enquirous." Snape's voice was just barely concealing its anger under its normally cool tones. Illy pulled her eyes up from her shoes to look at Snape. He was fuming.

"What did I do now? Is this about the trip with Draco?"

"It is nothing to do with your leaving with Draco."

"Then what did I do?"

"I've heard about you're newest little boyfriend."

"What is that supposed to mean? Harry is the only guy I've dated at this school Servius and you know that. So don't act like I've been running around snogging every guy I meet."

"So then, you are dating Harry Potter."

"Well…yes, yes I am." Illy stammered.

"I think we both now how I feel about him."

"Yeah, he's an obnoxious, untalented, prat."

"Not in those words but yes. Do you really think that you should be with someone like-"

"Just stop it. Every time I come to see you we fight about something stupid like this, and I'm sorry but I just don't want to fight about my boyfriend on Christmas Eve."

"Fine then, what did you want."

"I wanted to bring you your Christmas present. I can't come down to see you straightaway in the morning because I'm going to see Harry, but I wanted to watch you open it, so I brought it to you now." She smiled as she pulled the silvery blue package with snowflake print and white wrapping strings from her cloak. Snape took it gingerly.

"You got me a present?"

"Yeah…Draco sort of let me do a little Christmas shopping while I was out with him. I got all of my friends something…and well, that includes you." She smiled brightly at him, "So open it." She urged. Snape methodically untied the bows and opened the package from where it had been taped, leaving the wrapping paper perfectly intact.

"This is an expensive book… From Borgin and Burke's…Why were you in Nocturne Ally?"

"Don't tell me you're surprised, I had to buy gifts for five Slytherin's and yourself."

"This book is on the construction of oblivion portals and other unforgivables…Who let you buy this?"

"Like they care how old you are in that store. Besides, I've know them for years, great tippers in the delivery business for obvious reasons."

"This book is not something I want the ministry finding in my office if I'm smart. I hope that none of your other gifts are of this nature."

"Of course not, that's heavy reading Servius, it took me four days to get through it from cover to cover, and two notebooks to make notes on it."

"You read and studied this?" His voice sounded not only offended but scolding.

"It's not like it was new, who cares if I gave it a read through?"

"Do you mean to tell me that you can go get your notebooks, sit down and construct an oblivion portal?"

"Well no, I'd need some practice and about a gallon of blood, but maybe? Do you want to give me extra credit for it or something?"

"Does it look like I teach a dark arts class?"

"I didn't mean it like that, but…It's not like we don't both know that my parents were supporters of Voldemort and they didn't exactly let the dark arts die out in their home."

"You need to be careful. That boyfriend of yours is throwing around a lot of speculation over the return on the Dark Lord, I don't want you rushing off to join him if Potter is right. That might put your relationship under a bit of strain." Illy chuckled.

"I see, well as long as your only concern if for the stability of my relationship. Have a merry Christmas." Illy said before turning to leave the office.

"Ike, I have to ask…If the Dark Lord is really on the rise…which side would you choose?"

"I'm not choosing sides on this war. I have too much at stake, on both sides. If something really came out of all of this…I don't know what I'd do, but I can't make that choice in your office. My parents…and, and Draco, his family, Christian, possibly Dolan, Matty, all of them, they'd follow Voldemort. But Then I've got Harry, and Ron, the twins, Ginny, Hermione, Jackquinn, and pretty much the rest of this school. Your loyalties would make a difference…even if they shouldn't. And Draco…I know he doesn't agree with his Dad on most things but, he'd be in over his head to try and get out…I've got my own ideas on things, but in the end, it doesn't matter what you think, if war broke out…I would be deciding who I'm willing to kill. Whose death am I going to predict and do nothing about?"

"You think you'd see deaths?"

"If I practiced this stuff."

"Lupin and Trelawney want me to get you to practice with the three of us."

"I think we both know something is coming…if I got good at all of this…my choice would be even less my own if…"

"If you became a weapon, the Dark Lord would employ you, with or without your consent."

"Exactly."

"But then you know that Potter and his friends would do anything to protect someone with gifts like yours."

"What a perfect spy I could be."

"Don't say that." Snape's voice didn't reflect anyone of the jocular tone that Illy's did, it was stiff, serious, almost cryptic.

"I should go." She walked over to Snape and gave him a weak hug.

"One more thing Ike."

"Yeah?" Illy said in an exasperated voice.

"I got you a present as well." He said, as he offered her a periwinkle ring box. "It was your mothers…" He mumbled as she opened it. The ring inside was a thing white gold band sculpted to look like a Dragon eating its tail with a cerulean stone as the eye. "It fit her middle finger, but you're a little bigger than her, so it'll probably fit your pinky. She got it a long time ago from her mother, and she got it from hers…sort of a family heirloom."

"Thank you…it's beautiful." She slipped the ring onto her pinky and hugged Snape again. "I'll see you at breakfast." She smiled before heading to see Madam Pomfry.

Getting the potion from her was easy. Apparently Dumbledore had told her to keep a ready supply of potions for a dreamless sleep on hand, incase Illy needed any, and somehow Christmas seemed like it should count as a good reason to sleep without disturbing dreams.

Christmas morning was quiet without roommates, and virtually silent at five in the morning. Killious carefully pulled on her sweat pants, a tanktop, and Draco's hoodie with her sneakers before taking the small red package marked "Matty" from underneath her bed and putting it on top of the girl's mound of gifts; cheap earrings ought to keep things civil for another semester.

The morning air was light, crisp, and freezing cold. Sharp winds whipped around Illy's face, pushing her long ponytailed hair where they pleased. Illy averted her eyes from the direct gusts of wind and shouldered on through the beaten path beneath her. It had been almost a week since the last real snow, so the path around the lake was relatively worn. Not as well as the one to the quidditch field, or the one leading down to the lake from the castle, but still, she wasn't aiming at forging a new trail, just jogging the old one. In weather this windy, that's all you could really do, jog. Running was out of the question for more than the few feet where the wind's gusts were blocked by an odd angle of trees, but for the rest of the time the circle around the lake acted as a sort of winds tunnel and no matter what direction you were headed, you were headed into the wind.

After two laps Illy sighed, she was exhausted already, and she went inside for a shower. Following a quick rinse and redressing in something slightly more festive the only obstacle between herself and Gryffindor was maneuvering several rather large boxes to and from herself to the dorm, without letting anything break. She piled the packages up on her bed, maybe she could manage some ridiculous formation of stacking and get it down the hall and up several flights of stairs without falling through trick stairs or running into Peeves. Slowly, she slipped her hands beneath the pile but before she could even attempt to pick it up two of the small presents came tumbling from the top.

"Of bloody hell, fuck this." She snapped suddenly. "**_Wingardium_**_ leviosa_" And the packages were up in the air right away, each floating about a half of an inch from the others, which created a rather festive looking rubix cube of gifts that bounced lightly behind her, all the way up to the Gryffindor tower. The fat lady looked slightly alarmed by the sight when Illy came to a halt in front of her.

"G'morning, and happy Christmas." She said to the painting with a smile.

"Well…did you get me something?"

"No, but if you like I could attempt to paint you a nice Christmas wine."

"Oh goodness no, I've seen what some of you paint like, it'd end up tasting like bullocks."

"Right then, in that case ungle fungus."

"Password's changed"

"I really don't want to have to bang on you until someone comes, it'd be awfully rude." But before Illy had the chance to begin banging Harry had opened the portrait. His face went a bit pink.

"I was excited. I couldn't sleep so well…so I figured I'd surprise you." He said, all the while looking down at his bare feet. Illy gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"That was very sweet of you." She whispered in his ear. Harry's pink face turned to a flushing red as he led the way back into the dorm.

"Ron and I haven't opened our presents yet, so we've got 'em up here." He said as they climbed the stairs.

"Morning Ron." Illy said with a smile.

"Wow…I reckon I would have just tried to carry them all and hurt myself."

"Yeah, well actually I did try to carry them, it just resulted in a lot of cursing."

"So, what's mine?" He asked as Illy guided the presents to the ground. She picked up one with the same wrapping paper as Snape's though it was marginally bigger.

"And this one is yours." She told Harry with a seductive smile as she gave him a green one with thin black cursive writing on it that looked almost just like pinstripes.

"Hey this is way better than the sweater mum is going to give me." Ron said with a big smile as he unfolded the warm looking grey sweater and scarf set, neglecting to catch the small pile of chocolate frogs that fell from them.

"Harry told me that she sends you one every year and I thought you could use something in a more natural color."

"How's your present looking Harry?" Illy asked as she turned back to face him. He reached out a hand to her.

"Oh, you look fine." He said as he pulled her to his lap. He was in a good mood today, that meant she could easily spend her Christmas with her friends and not hiding in Snape's office. Harry started to dot her jaw line and neck with little kisses.

"Harry, Ron's right there." She whispered as she pulled away. But Ron had started in on the next package he had and wasn't paying much attention anyway. None the less, Harry opted to open his gift rather than embarrass Illy further.

"A whole wizard's chess set!" Harry held up the box for Ron to see. Ron gagged a little on his chocolate frog.

The boys and Illy continued through their gifts, a set of new quills from Hermione, a bag of every flavor beans from Ron, a silver charm bracelet from Harry, featuring a crystal ball that 'matches your necklace', an anonymous gift tagged to Illy in writing identical to Snape's that was by far the largest book she'd ever been given entitled 'Spells, Charms, Potions, Hexes, and Curses explained, by Servius Prince' a charm from the twins, who must have gone shopping with Harry for the bracelet, that looked just like a miniature of the belly-dancing ice sculpture, and must have been bought at the benefit, a book on controlling the gifts of the seer, from Lupin and Trelawny, a bag of gold from her parents, a new set of shoes of Jackquinn, a picture of himself naked with the exception on a Santa hat that was not on his head from Christian, signed 'You can have this hat when I get back', a letter from Dolan promising that he had talked to Jacky, and finally a very large box in purple wrapping paper was left, 'from Draco, with lots of friendly like love.'

"Well, you've gotten more gifts than any of us, though I think the Firebolt out did both of your anonymous gifts and the naked picture of Christian." Ron said as he took another bite of chocolate frog.

"Yeah, I agree, but I think I might just get one of my own, my parents sent me quite a bit." She said through a smile.

"I didn't realize how much money they made." Harry said with a little bit of jealousy.

"The ministry pays them a lot to keep things under control amongst the muggles. They have to know a bunch of languages and customs, they're pretty much spies on all of the foreign ministers and then there's the work they do keeping magical creature epidemics under control. Anthropology is just a bullshit cover they use to go and interfere in muggle politics and nonsense to bend things to the ministries liking…or whomever wants to pay them to do so."

"Wow, not exactly the loyal types are they?" Harry asked.

"No."

"What is politics?" Ron piped up.

"It's sort of like the ministry is for us, except each country runs things differently and they threaten to kill one another a lot more…let's go meet Hermione." Illy got up and cast another leviosa on the last few presents, mostly because she didn't want to carry the oversized package from Draco that was almost as tall, and most certainly as wide if not wider than herself.

"Happy Christmas Hermione!" Illy greeted as she gave her friend a hug and passed her two boxes.

"Thanks Illy." The four of them took a seat by the fire.

"I've got one more present to all of us after Herm opens that one up." Illy announced as Hermione methodically unwrapped the gifts, almost just as precisely as Snape had done the night before. Hermione let out a small squeal and clapped twice before holding up the first gift, the navy blue book's title shone in gold bright enough for anyone in the room to read, but Hermione announced the title proudly none the less.

"Out witting a magical court, by Gilgamesh Greir." She said in an uncharacteristically high and breath voice.

"and the second one." Ron said in a bored voice.

"Oh don't be so rude." Illy shot back as she gave him a shove, "It's Christmas." Hermione unwrapped the second one a little fast to uncover a small felt jewelry box with earrings that were a bit more ornate than anything Hermione would ever wear.

"Thank you and all Illy, but I'm not sure where I'd ever wear these." She said as she held them up for the boys to see.

"Well, I'm fairly certain I have an idea what's in that beast of a package and if I'm right I'll demand that at whatever location it deems itself useful, you need to be present as well."

"I've been meaning to ask who sent you that ridiculous thing." Ron said as he looked back over his shoulder at the box.

"The same person who sent her this one." Harry said in an irritated voice as he held up a matching medium sized box, "and this one." He finished by pointing to the smaller one attached to the top.

"Right, so, my gift to all of us or those ones first?" Illy asked as thought she was presenting the decision between having a bit of tea and lighting herself on fire. The tactic worked and Harry let out a little chuckle.

"I think we'll take yours first" he said. Illy smiled and lifted the top off of the box she had in her lap. Before she could even set the top down on the table beside her large mugs of hot cocoa, complete with whipped cream were zooming towards each of the friends, to be accompanied by chocolate scones and biscuits.

"Now this is a brilliant present." Ron said through a mouthful of biscuit as the tea set filled with hot cocoa settled itself on a nearby table, shaking with anticipation to fill another person's cup.

"Guess it's just those three now." Illy sighed and took the two boxes from Harry. "Which one first?"

"The big one." Hermione said firmly. Illy nodded and stood up from her chair to unwrap the preposterously large present. The paper came off easily to reveal a white box with a dress shop insignia on its top. Illy swallowed hard and removed the box lid, and there, nestled in bits of black tissue paper, lay the dress that was responsible for Harry's almost choking her. She bit her lip and turned back to look at Harry, he nodded his head,

"Go ahead, I'm over it." She smiled a thank you and gently lifted the dress from the box to hold it up to her. It was too wide in the waste, too large in the bust, and too long, but beyond the irritants of size it was even more beautiful than the day in the store.

"It's gorgeous Illy." Hermione whispered. Illy nodded and returned it to the box.

"Let's see what else the rich bastard got." Ron said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, Illy took the medium sized box from him and began to unwrap it like the last.

"Shoes…and jewelry, from his mum and dad." Illy shivered as she read the note enclosed, "There's a note, 'We're looking forward to your visit this summer, Draco has told us so much about you and we hope to enjoy your company as much as he has. We contacted your parents and they are looking to clear up the matters of your lineage, I am sure we will find that you have blood just as pure as our own. Enjoy your winter holiday, hopefully the next one will be spent in somewhere a bit cozier, like with your parents or ourselves' it's signed Lucious and Narcissa, but she wrote it." Illy peered into the box at the black shoes, they were simple and looked comfortable, it's not like you'd see them under the dress. The jewelry was in a separate box within this one though, and the elaborate necklace looked like it must have been a family heirloom, probably hand made, and the sparkling clear stones were no doubt diamonds to match the white gold inset and the earrings. "At least there's no tiara." Illy said shaking her head and putting the lid back on the box. "Only one more of these things." She took the last gift, which to her relief was no larger than an index card and about one inch thick. This time she tore the wrapping off. "Herm, what is this? It just looks like a bit of black rock." She said as she passed the item to Hermione, who lifted the shiny piece of stone to the light.

"It's a communications black board. Some times the ministry uses them, he probably got it from his dad."

"What's it for?" Ron asked.

"Only the person to whose wand it is assigned can use it, you have to either have the wand or know what it's made of and how long it is. You write with your wand, like a pen, and it puts the message onto the twin board. Which in this case Draco has. It's just a way of writing out a letter without waiting for an owl." She explained.

"Does he know what your wand's made of?" Ron inquired.

"Of course he does, this is Draco he's obsessed, he probably knows what bloody day the painters are in." Harry shouted in exasperation.

"That's not true. He's my best friend Harry, and we've talked about my wand before. Ron knows what my wand is made of and so does Hermione; it's not a big deal, so please calm down." Illy replied calmly before taking the stone back from Hermione and tapping it gently with her wand. "He's already left a message, 'Sorry about Lucious and my mum, they insisted on my sending the dress, and then mum wanted to get something to match, I told you how she is. Tell Harry I'm sorry, as I'm sure you didn't think ahead to open all that bullocks in private. I didn't mean to ruin your Christmas morning.' There, he apologized to you Harry, now let's just eat our breakfast and go see Hagrid or something."

"No let's go play a bit of quidditch, Harry and Herm can be on a team and me and you can be on a team, it'll be even because of the firebolt!" Ron said excitedly.

"What firebolt? Who'd he get that from?" Hermione asked quickly. Illy bit her lip.

"Me an' Harry need to go use the restroom." Illy said before pulling Harry up from his chair. Harry shot Ron a mean look and headed back towards the door with Illy's hand in his own.

"I really don't need to pee, I'd much rather be saving my broom." Harry said with a bit of irritation.

"Neither do I you twat. We're running off for some risky Christmas morning snogging." Illy smiled at Harry and continued to pull him down the hall towards a spot that would be safe from prying eyes. She settled on the back stacks of the library, which was utterly deserted by even the librarian, who seemed to have wondered off for some breakfast as the rarely spotted sign on her desk read 'out for tea.' Illy found a comfortable spot in an isle pertaining to fungi and pushed Harry softly towards a bookcase. She threw her arms around his neck, almost knocking a book off the shelf in the process. She was astounded by her own nervousness. The art of dealing with men normally came naturally to her. It didn't take hard work or even much thought for her to lead one to bed and have him banging down her door a week later. But now, with the-boy-who-lived so close, her fingers shook almost uncontrollably; she clasped them together and moved her lips to Harry's. Illy pushed him against the bookshelf with a bit more force, and rather than being greeted by the return of eagerness she had become so used to expecting from Draco, she found Harry's lips withdrawn from hers.

"What are you doing?"

"I-I was just…"

"Just what? Don't push me." Harry snapped as he pulled her arms from behind his neck.

"I'm sorry, other p-people…in the past…"

"Who? What kind of person would want a girl forcing him up against walls?" Killious could see the anger electrifying in his green eyes.

"No one Harry, no one at all."

"You were going to say his name weren't you?"

"I don't know who you mean Harry?"

"You know damn well who I mean 'killy'" He spat. Illy winced as he said the pet name.

"Harry, I don't-I've never…" Harry stopped her words with a finger to her lips.

"Don't lie to me…I'm not going to hit you. Just don't lie to me please." Harry looked defeated and suddenly the anger in his eyes dissolved into a quiet resolution. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry for hurting you. I don't mean it. I promise that I don't want to hurt you, it's not something I plan…it's just that…I can hardly help myself and I don't know why. I want to touch every bit of your skin, and when you betray me…I'm sorry Killious." His words rang out with misery. Killious nodded.

"Fine then…Draco…And now Harry…you can resume your quest to touch every bit of me." She smiled softly at Harry.

"Thank you." He smiled at her. "I'll push this time if you don't mind." Harry pushed Illy lightly towards the shelf, and Illy found her fingers steadied by confessing that she was thinking about Draco, and she found herself falling back into her ability to mindlessly please men.

--


	36. 35 Tell you anythingalmost

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 35

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 35

"The best present I've ever gotten and…and it's gone." Harry complained angrily as he kicked the broom in front of him across the snow covered lawn.

"You still don't have to abuse the old one." Illy chided as she picked up Harry's broom in her gloveless hands and began to brush snow from its handle.

"I'm sorry…I just can't believe she would do that to me!" 

"D'you think she'd be willing to study with Jacky and I?" Illy asked, suddenly off topic.

"Who?" Ron asked from his spot to the left of Harry.

"Herm, who else?"

"If she's not a total bloody traitor she wouldn't." Ron grumbled. Illy checked to see if Harry was paying attention, but he had abandoned the conversation to pick at the sticks on his broom tail.

After taking in the sight of Harry's momentary distraction, Illy slipped the miniaturized black board from her pocket to read the message Draco had just written, 'I think she'd say yes.' Illy had managed to master writing things on the board while it was still inside of her pocket in a matter of hours, and as a result relayed fifty percent of everything that was said to or by her to Draco in a matter of moments, though she was still perfecting the art of glancing at his responses without being noticed. Luckily Draco's handwriting was thin and neat, making it easy to read in a single glance, as opposed to Harry and Ron's chicken scratch writing that took a good minute or two just to decipher.

"Where is Hermione right now anyway?" Illy muttered as she slipped the piece of slate back into her pocket.

"Probably shut up in the library…she's been in there since Harry's broom got taken, I guess she's realized that books can't be right mad at her." Ron said in an irritated voice.

"I think I'm gonna run back up to see her if you two don't mind." Illy said as she tightened the leather strap of her shoulder bag.

"Whatever." Harry responded. Illy leaned over to give him a small kiss,

"Try not to dwell on it too long Harry." She consoled. Harry smiled and watched her walk back across the grounds towards the castle. He had managed to keep his temper with her for the better part of the day and the absence of his new broom made him so distracted that watching her leave or sneak peaks at the message board she was talking to Draco on became small irritations rather than something to fly into a fit of rage about.

"So Lupin, Trelawney, and Snape want her in private lessons again…And I think she'll go if Snape wants her to, those two are just queer…" Ron mumbled to Harry.

"Yeah, I'm still not quite sure what for, but I think it has something to do with her getting sick and the bad dreams and forgetting stuff and whatnot." Harry explained with a shrug.

"Do they think she's got some sort of disease?"

"I doubt it; I bet that nut-job Trelawney has her thinking that it's a sign of certain and imminent death. Illy might actually believe her with all that crap she knows about reading palms and stuff."

"Speaking of which, have you had her take a look at those new charts we're supposed to do before break is over?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nope, but I think I know how I'll be spending tonight though. It's not as though Hermione's gonna help us now."

"What makes you think Illy will be available this evening?"

"Why, d'you have plans or something?"

"Well we did get interrupted in the library the other day." Harry said with a bit of suggestion in his voice. Ron looked down to the ground beneath his feet and spoke quietly.

"Right…I didn't realize that you two were quite that…erm…physical?"

"It's not like I've gotten her out of her knickers or anything…" Harry responded quickley, suddenly feeling as though he had upset Ron.

"But you're gonna try! That's saying something Harry." Ron said, brightening up suddenly and throwing his hands in the air.

"I never said I was going to try…'sides I don't think that she'd let me." Harry's face spread into a smile as he saw any conversation not about Buckbeak, Sirius Black, Draco, or the Firebolt as a welcome relief from the normal routine. It was comforting to know that even in a life as odd as his he could still talk to his best mate about trying to get girls into bed.

"If I had a chance to get Killious Enquirous to take even her shirt off for me I'd go for it, just the attempt would make you a thousand times more popular."

"And it'd piss Draco off."

"Brilliant."

Illy pulled the bit of plain parchment off the door of the common room before heading inside,

You,

I think its better this way. I think

that I might be in love with my

best friend. Best of luck to both

of us then,

-Me.

The thin scrap of paper crumbled easily before Illy tossed it into the fire without a second thought. It was a fun childish little affair, nothing more, and not a thing to worry about…hopefully. As she made her way up the stairs to gather some books and parchment to do homework with, she scratched down a copy of the note for Draco.

"Wow, all done with that then…" came back across the board. Illy stuffed her D.A.D.A. book into her bag along with some extra ink.

"Yeah. But I couldn't do that to Harry, it was wrong." She wrote back as she trotted back down the stairs and in the direction of the library.

"It's not the only wrong thing you've done in the relationship."

"Why don't you just make me hate that I kissed you a little more."

"Don't hate it. Just get over the fact that Harry and you aren't good for one another." Illy sighed as she read the message.

"Please, not right now."

"Fine. So, you and him are getting pretty cozy lately."

"I told you about that as a best friend, don't be an ass about it okay?"

"It hadn't crossed my mind, just pretend I'm Jacky."

"I'll do my best to see you as a black, orphaned, homo. But the stuff with me and Harry's not that big of a deal. I've done more with you in public hallways."

"Speaking of hallways, are you eating enough?" Illy pushed open the door to the library and glanced around, searching for a certain bushy haired girl.

"Yes, I'm eating. I've gained two pounds, aren't you proud?"

"Indescribably so; and how is your nasty cleaning habit going?"

"It's going ok…Every now and then it gets bad, but I learned how to heal up the broken skin, so it's not so ugly."

"And how are you sleeping?" She spotted Hermione and took a seat next to her, without looking up from her conversation with Draco.

"Dreams like usual, but they have you in them more, and the last one was actually good, though Lucious has started bringing friends over." Illy waited for a response but it didn't come. She bit her lip and set the stone on the table.

"Been talking to him all day I guess." Hermione said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, but mostly we talk about Harry." Illy quipped in an attempt to keep Hermione's ever perceptive mind from wandering into her business.

"I see. And did the boys get sick of you? I know they're still mad at me and all."

"No, I came to see you of my own free will; even if you are a spastic present destroyer."

"It could be dangerous!" Hermione defended.

"Let it go Herm, I don't really care, I'm just messing with you. 'Sides, I'm not convinced that Black is all that dangerous to begin with. You should check out some of the articles that the _quibbler_ has on him. Luna showed me the other day."

"Luna who?"

"Luna Lovegood, her dad is the editor…" Hermione just gave Illy a blank stare. "Oh you know, Loony Lovegood? She's a blond, in Ginny's year." Illy pressed. Hermione just looked blankly at her. "Oh well, it's not important, just some interesting theories."

"Right…so, why'd you come up here when your boyfriend is currently not on speaking terms with me?"

"Well I was wondering…and Draco said you might…oh, hold on one second." Illy picked the black board back up, Draco's note was waiting patiently for her. 'I…I had tried to forget…about his friends…she wasn't the only one that his friends came to visit.' Illy gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"What is it Illy?" Hermione asked with concern.

"Um…it's sort of…" Illy tucked the board away.

"I understand." Hermione said quietly, before letting silence fall until Illy was ready to continue their conversation.

"I came to ask you…" She paused to gather the thought again, "Right, I wanted to know if you'd be willing to get together a study group with Jacky and I. We're all pretty smart, and then you could get to know some of my friends, sort of show the guys that they're not so bad."

"I don't think that would make Ron too happy…" Hermione paused to consider the idea, "But I guess a trial wouldn't hurt." She said with a smile.

"Thank you. Jackquinn's not a bad guy Hermione, and neither is Draco. I really don't want Ron and Jacky to end up like Harry and Draco; it'd kill me to deal with one more rivalry." Illy said with mild exasperation.

"Well, the last time I checked Jackquinn didn't want to snog you, so unless something's changed that should make things a little less complicated." Hermione made the statement like a joke, but something about the fact that she didn't group Ron the same as Jacky made it seem spiteful.

"Yeah, I guess it would." She admitted with a little laugh, before pulling Snape's Christmas present from her bag and flipping it open to a section on alternatives to traditional defensive and offensive spells. _Sectumsemptra: A spell for only hostile enemies is best preformed with a forceful and deliberate wand flick as the effect should trace the area outlined with a deep cut. Make note that ill-guided spells can in fact injure the party casting the spell or destroy surrounding inanimate objects. Also, this spell can be healed, though severed body parts cannot be reattached as they have been removed by magic, see 'the healing of offensive injuries, page 459.' _Illy stopped reading to pull the board back out of her pocket again.

"Draco…I don't know what to say." She wrote out slowly. Draco's response came back with little more speed than last time.

"I know…it's got to be disgusting for you to know that now and think back to the fact that I've touched you…kissed you, whatever." She could tell he was trying to avoid the subject of their relationship now. Whenever Lucious was an open subject Draco seemed to shy away from his advances and cling to Illy as a friend instead of a potential lover. It made the topic easier to get through for her. Sexual pursuit and Lucious were two things she never wanted to be paired, especially when the person she was talking to them about looked so much like his father it was scary at times.

"No, no it's not that…I'm at a loss for words that can better say 'In a way I understand and I wish I could make you feel better somehow' But I can't come up with anything good." She waited for Draco's response as she moved onto a new spell in her book. _Icarus-incantio: To be used only with deliberate intentions and great skill. Icarus-incantio is a useful silent spell, thought it can be used with words it is usually not as effective due to the spells nature of responding to the users emotion. The Icarus will burn whatever object or person it is directed at until there is no more than ash. With practice the spell can be used on singular body parts or pieces of objects, though it can be put out with most water spells and several potions the customary idea of using blankets or ordinary water to douse the flame will only enrage it and in turn burn the objects touching it. The caster should note that the spell is not an unforgivable, but it very close and as such should be used with careful practice and only by those with emotional control. _Illy closed the book and pushed it away from her for a moment. Snape's thorough knowledge of how to torment other humans was a little bit daunting, even though it was expected. Thankfully Illy noticed that Draco had written again, she sighed and put the book back in her bag for the time being.

"Oh…don't worry about it. I'm over it."

"How can you be over something like that Draco? I mean how can you even live with him?" Her stomach turned as she thought about the impending summer.

"He never knew. Or at least I don't think he did. It only ever happened when he was throwing parties, or when someone was staying at the house and he was gone…It only happened four or five times…two different people…I handled it myself."

"Draco…that's not something I think you can just decide to be over. You were molested by two different men as a child!"

"I was young, I barely remember it" Draco's writing was becoming slow and thoughtful; she could tell he was thinking about each word before he wrote it, choosing specifically how he wanted to communicate things, 'defending his father even subconsciously' she thought. "The first two times I was passed out when he came into my room, I only woke up because it hurt. I was so out of it from the drinks I always snuck at my parents parties that I really only recall a few seconds of what was going on."

"And what about the other times?" She was indignant, if she didn't lighten her writing either the board or her wand was going to snap. Draco could probably tell she was becoming angry, but he chose to ignore it and continued along with the coolness of someone talking about summer holiday, not childhood molestation.

"Well the third one was worse. My dad and mum had gone up to Gringott's to move some things around in their vaults. One of my dad's old death eater friends was wandering around the place. He told me my dad had said he could go visit" The writing stopped for a moment, "Her, but…he said he liked boys more. I fought him…He hit my head against a wall…when I woke up it was done with."

"How old were you?"

"I don't know? Eight maybe? Something like that, but the fourth time I was nine, I was coming up from her room when I ran into the same guy, he said he'd keep where I had been a secret from my dad if I was quiet. So I guess that was only sort of against my will…The last one was the man from the parties, I was eleven and asleep on Christmas Eve, I woke up when he was halfway through, preformed a cruciatins curse on him. No one's touched me since then." When he finished writing Illy could only stare at the words until they faded. Small tears trickled down her face, onto the board.

She scratched out the word 'fuck' in large letters on the board, followed by more tears and 'damn it.' She wiped the tears from her eyes and sniffled once before gathering herself and writing a real message. Draco waited patiently; as always, he knew when she needed a minute.

"I wish I could get you out of that house."

"Illy, my dad had nothing to do with those. No one did. I was a freaked out little kid. I never told anyone so they couldn't do much about it. When my dad heard someone screaming the last time, he ran up stairs and called in aurors, the guy's still in Azkaban to this day. He called aurors into his own house, would your parents do as much? And just so you know Killy, the tears come through on my side… ink would too, or blood, or most anything you could use to write with."

"Shit…it doesn't feel right to talk about this without you here."

"Let's change the subject then."

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just that…"

"I know. It'd be a lot easier to talk about something like this in the common room when no one was around, half asleep, with my head in your lap."

"Exactly…eerily so."

"But it's fine. I have a question that will distract us from the topic."

"Shoot."

"Jacky and I were talking and he sort of mentioned a few guys…"

"I'm not going to talk about Jacky's sex life."

"Actually I meant yours." Illy looked up from the board after reading Draco's note, Hermione was now leafing through a book with a somewhat bored look, but was decidedly paying Illy no mind, most likely on purpose.

"What all did he tell you?"

"Just that there have been like five guys…Two Italians, a qudditch player, a Portuguese guy, and an auror I believe."

"Yeah, well they were all very odd situations."

"He mentioned that, but since we're on the subject…"

"Fine, we'll swap sex stories."

"You make it sound like an official black market item."

"Who was the more abused child? I think you'll still be winning but…"

"Lead the way, and start from the beginning."

"Ok…well actually I don't know what the beginning is, I mean because of the accident, but I doubt I was doing anything really dirty before I was eleven."

"I can actually see you as an eleven year old call girl."

"Bullocks, you cannot!"

"No not really, but it would be quite a sight."

"Moving on, these all actually happened last year…it was a busy, and very odd year…The first time was in February, I was dropping this package off at a dingy little hotel outside of Moscow. He was the quidditch player, Russian, he was getting fat and old, like thirty something. I think he lost his place on the team the next year, but he was probably just killed or something, I'm not sure. I was delivering an amulet of some sort to him, I remember the freezing cold better than the item really, but when I got there things got a bit wibbly…one minute I was handing him his parcel and in the next he was telling me that he's supposed to kill me because the guy pulling the strings behind his gambling debts is demanding it, but that he didn't realize I was so young and all-"

"One second, last February you were twelve!"

"Yeah, don't interrupt though because this is good stuff. We're going over where my inexplicable use of my body to get what I want comes from." She tried to make everything sound like a joke. It was working on her, but she knew it wasn't doing a thing to Draco, he saw through things too much. These stories were her only wounds, they didn't seem like much compared to Draco, or the girl that Lucious kept, so it didn't feel right to hold them as the same horrific things they once were in her mind. "Anyway, he's got a wand pointed at me, but he looks like he's on the verge of tears, the guy was obviously not a killer. So, I do my best at being seductive…I just sort of told him, 'I'll get you out of this, it's ok, just let me get you a drink' so in the end I just had to blow him off and slip him a sleeping potion in his firewhisky."

"So wait, you didn't really have sex with the guy."

"I think giving a stranger a blow job is horrific enough for a twelve year old girl."

"Right, continue."

"Ok, so next was one of the Italians, in April. I'm in Naples getting pizza after dropping off a bunch of dragon's teeth for a goblin that made armor locally and a guy approaches me. He's a cute, normal looking Italian guy around nineteen, so I have lunch with him and walk to his place with him, when he suddenly puts a hand over my mouth and drags me up the stairs."

"In broad daylight?"

"It was a dark ally, can I continue?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"As I was saying, he drags me up to his apartment and says, 'I so sorry, but I supposed to give you over to my boss. It is my job, nothing I can do about.' Sort of funny really that he struggled so much with the English when I speak Italian."

"Hysterical, really. I find that there is nothing funnier than a pointlessly bilingual rapist who happens to be a professional child kidnapper."

"Well that one was easier because I played Stockholm syndrome and managed to get off with nothing more than about twenty minutes of save my own life sex, before we stumbled into his room and I hit him over the head with a lamp. He was nice actually, and not that bad, better kisser than the others honestly."

"I'm sorry…but this is ridiculous! You're fucking twelve years old and you're doing this shit?"

"I was almost thirteen by then. Remember, it's in May." She felt stupid for correcting a one month difference. "Draco it was survival tactics…it was like I knew how to get out of the situations from some other life. I don't really understand how I lived through all of it! When the time came, I just sort of knew what I had to do to get away." She wanted to remind him that he was younger than eight when the first man paid him a visit, but somehow it felt wrong to point fingers about a matter with the weight of their current discussion.

"Was your old orphanage like a bordello or something?"

"No, it was a shit hole in Upper Dublin"

"Didn't your parents do anything about all of this?"

"They barely talk to me. Notice that they don't plan on seeing me until next year as it stands? Besides, who's going to believe all this stuff, its crazy, makes no sense? Who would hire two people to kill and kidnap me?"

"Guess I didn't think about that."

"Now onto the Portuguese guy. This time I was on a little holiday with my mum and dad in May, and I noticed that the same quidditch player from before was following me around the stores I was going through. My parents are suddenly no where to be found, so I bump into someone half decent looking and got him to take me to his place so that I had someone to protect me from the quidditch psycho. Really he didn't force me into anything, and it only lasted thirty or so minutes, so I guess I got off lucky there, but the last one definitely makes up for it."

"I don't think I can take much more of this. It's like you're a whore of necessity or something!"

"Obviously there were quite a few things that fucked me up before the accident. Someone did something to me then, I didn't just wake up one morning and decide that sex was a defense mechanism." 

"I know…it's just…"

"How many girl have you been through in your spoiled fucking lifetime?" She could feel self righteous heat welling in her stomach, and flushes of embarrassment over defending her own promiscuous behaviors creeping across her face.

"Ok, fine, you've only really had sex with two out of three so far, you have me beat in your purity, continue."

"Well, the second Italian really shouldn't even count, but Jacky likes the story because it's the only guy that I really wanted to be with. He was fourteen and we met in a bookstore in Diagon ally. My family was there for a week on business and we were pretty much inseparable, all that happened was that the day before I had to leave I went to his house and we snogged a bit. Didn't even take my pants off, his mum barged in on us with me topless an all, the scene was a bloody mess. He was trying to fend her off while he help me to his chest to keep from showing her a bit more of me than was necessary."

"It's good to know you've had at least one normal relationship…sort of."

"At least I didn't fuck Pansy Parkinson out of spite."

"That wasn't out of spite!"

"At least I didn't fuck Pansy…at all."

"Just finish this sick recount of your budding sexual life please."

"It's good to know that I can share stories of my sexual abuse with someone else."

"This conversation is far too casual."

"Why be serious and remorseful about things that weren't forced on me and are now unchangeable? But none the less this has gone on for about as long as I can stand it. I finish with the auror, who attacked me in the ever so recent July. To make it short I was walking around the ministry and an auror just shoves me up against a wall, kisses me, puts his hand up my skirt and tells me 'I remember this.' Even thought I've never seen him before, and then, he just walks away like nothing happened after a few minutes. I bled all the way to the pisser, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been, had to see a healer, but I can still produce spawn, so the world will not be spared my vengeance."

"…that's fucking sick."

"Says the boy who almost raped me within several weeks of meeting me."

"We've been over this, it wasn't rape."

"Whatever, my hands were pinned and you had a hard on."

"If the bloody fucking twins hadn't shown up you'd have been begging for it within the next fifteen minutes."

"I'm going to pretend we never had this conversation and sit down to enjoy my dinner." Illy finished before looking up from the tablet to see Harry crossing the library towards where she and Hermione sat.

"We spent the afternoon reading over my new books." Illy told Hermione quickly.

"You left your tablet in your room; you were too excited about the book to bother with it." Hermione replied.

The last few days of winter break passed in a salt and pepper of Harry and Draco. Harry seemed to have taken all too kindly to Ron's encouragement and all but lost his temper on more than one occasion when Illy let out a,

"Harry stop it," Which was usually followed by his reluctant removal of his hand from beneath her shirt. Shortly there after Harry would make up some bullshit about the firebolt, which would find Illy trying to make him feel better again, only to lead into a fight when he tried to unbutton her shirt or lift her sweater up,

"I told you Harry, I'm not ready for you to do that"

"You'd let me do whatever I wanted if I was Draco."

"No I wouldn't, don't say things like that."

"Look, you're my girlfriend Illy, we shouldn't have to have this conversation."

"You're right, my _boyfriend_ should understand that when I say 'no' I mean it." A smart slap to the face makes Killious wince and leaves its print in flushing red.

"Don't talk to me like that." Harry says as he shoves her away from him. The first time it happend she felt bad, but by the end of the week she was just glad that he pushed her away instead of pulling her close. Snape's book became her obsession, she would need something if he got out of control; and with an instruction manual like that, she had her pick.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Harry would shout as Illy started to leave, she always turned back around and let him grab at her. Her arms were being spotted in bruises again, and bruises couldn't be taken off with a wand to her knowledge, just hidden by makeup. Harry would be jerkier then, pulling her into his lap, pushing her into a chair, instead of holding her face he pulled her hair, but he usually followed her rules, and at least he always apologized an hour or two later. Sometimes he did it with a flower, or a note, or with some other surprise that summed itself up as, "I'm sorry, I really am, I'll never do it again, please forgive me." She always yielded, but as a personal vengeance she always thought about Draco when his lips found hers for an apology kiss.

None of this reached Draco. She knew he would find out the second he got back. She might have been able to hide the bruises from everyone else on earth, but not him. He would notice. When he watched her hurry out the door in the morning for a run he would catch a bit of blue on her wrist, or when she reached for something in potions with him he would see the black rimmed in yellow on her arm, maybe Harry would really blow it and he'd catch a full handprint on her cheek before she could get ice on it. It didn't matter what it was, he'd notice something, even if it was just that she winced when she brushed her hair.

And so she talked about everything else she could think about. He had already started to ask how things were between them; he was suspicious before he packed his bags to come back. Luckily, his mother was scheduling things for the summer left and right and it was easy to distract him by asking for details, or updates for her calendar. Draco was almost gushing with pride as he talked to her about all of the important people he knew, all the foreign ministers and important ministry workers that she would get to meet: Aurors, healers, and legendary duelers, not to mention his other, less respectable friends, which he wanted her to meet, and get dressed for. His obsession with appearances was dangerous; his fathers pride along with his mother's vanity created a machine that needed to plan out what attire would be appropriate for every minute event…but she had to admit to herself, disappointing him by showing up in jeans here and there would be fun.

So her week came to a frozen close, Draco was impending and ever present all at once. The boards made him seem like he was right next to her all day long, but she managed to cheer herself up after each of Harry's fits with the thought of Draco's return. She woke Draco up each morning with a countdown of days. And when Draco was busy and Harry wasn't interested in trying to cop a feel, there were owls to send off to Jacky, he had in fact talked to Dolan and the two were friends once again.

With one night left and Draco only informed of Harry's persistence in crossing of boundaries Illy closed her eyes and did her best to calm her mind for a dreamless sleep.


	37. 36 Sweet dreams

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 36

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 36

"_I know he's been coming to see you." Sir said as his large, warm hands grasped for her small body. She crawled backwards as quickly as she could but he caught her ankle. "Otherwise you would still want me." He whispered into her hair as he crushed his weight down onto her. "He must be fucking you real good." His words made her ear prickled and her stomach flip; putting Draco with the things Sir did to her had never even occurred in her mind. Had they occurred to Draco? Sir was crouched on the ground with the girl's back to his chest, his fingers wandered to her still hairless entrance and forced their way in violently. The action kicked the nerves in her knee against her will, she fell forward just slightly under the pain, dropping more of her weight onto the fingers and driving them farther inward. Sir let out a seething cackle from behind her. "You think that hurts? Wait until you see what he has in store for you." He withdrew his fingers, sharp nails dragging along her insides mercilessly. _

_Forcing her to her knees took no effort on his part. Her hands caught the ground, leaving her on all fours. Sir tangled one hand in her hair and pulled, just before pushing into her with full force. Silent sobs welled in her throat, but she fought them back and let him establish rhythm. The taunts were far worse than the pain of her small buttocks becoming accustomed to such size. _

_"This is how he would take you. It's the same way he's been taken." His panting voice let the words ring out as though he found them expensive or luxurious gifts for her good. _

"_He watches us and wishes he was me, all he wants is to screw you." He threatened as he pushed with more weight than before. She remained silent, tearless, and held her breath. His new favorite practice was to tell her that Draco didn't really care about her, but now, as his father heaved out exerted breaths just behind her, as he put forth every effort to drive home his own twisted thought in the form of sodomy, she couldn't help but pray that Draco would never want to hurt her like this. Sir's pace slowed, he was almost done, he always slowed and pushed harder for the last few thrusts, before collapsing to catch his breath. _

_When he was done he drew her back to him, tightening the grip on her hair as he forced her to go down on him, _

"_I'll never let him have you. You belong to me, and the only way you'll leave this place is dead." He said just before emptying himself into her mouth and getting up to leave. She spat the cum onto the ground in front of him and spoke in a determined but weak voice, _

_"You can kill me, but you can't stop him from loving me." _

"_I hope you enjoyed those words bitch, they'll cost you. Or better yet, they'll cost him, I'll tell a friend to play with him instead of you." Sir said before raising the back of his hand and forcing out a swing that left her seeing black spots until long after he had gone. _

Illy ran water over her face in the bathroom to shake off the feeling of warmth on her cheek. She shuttered a little bit at the thought of sitting down to breakfast after a dream like that, but closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Draco gets home today." She reminded herself as she turned back towards her trunk. She chose to skip her morning run, in favor of covering all of her bruises with makeup. It took several minutes to gather the courage to put on one of the outfits Draco had purchased for her, so far she had avoided them when Harry might be around, but she convinced herself that she needed to make up for showing up on her shopping trip clothed in a sweatshirt, and so snow boots, a mini skirt, and a tight fitting sweater were carefully selected and put on. It was the first time in quite a while she had let herself get ready with Draco in mind, partly because of Harry, and partly because whenever she woke up with the thought of wowing him in mind it ended up taking an extra hour of preparations he would later call pointless. The makeup was painstaking; she had bruises from her thighs to her throat, not to mention that covering sleeplessness wasn't exactly a cakewalk, but she came away from the hour and a half of morning chores with by far, the best looking reflections she had seen since the night she went out with the twins.

Winter break breakfast was always loud, and crowded. People pushed and squeezed through narrow isles to see their friends for the first time in several weeks, and while most people might imagine the crowd would disappear after a wave of arrival, it didn't. Everyone kept shifting to see someone else, or to greet someone who had just showed up late due to a parent drop off, so Illy was surprised when she found out that Christian had actually saved several seats at the Slytherin table, in their normal spots.

His smile was sickeningly suggestive as he looked her over,

"Fuck me for ever leaving. I missed this." He said as he gave Illy a hug. She laughed freely and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I miss you too, even thought your gift was almost ripped to shreds by my boyfriend." She said as they took their seats.

"Speaking of which…" He pulled a Santa hat from his side bag and started to put it on her head.

"Hell no! That thing could very well be carrying AIDS." Illy squealed as she tried to get away from Christian.

"You know you want it!" He teased as their banter continued until Jacky and Dolan emerged from a nearby crowd. Both boys opted to climb over the top of the table to give out hugs to Illy and Christmas greetings to one another, rather than to take the impossible roundabout walk to the other end of the table and back.

"Did you two spend your break together?" Illy asked as she started to serve herself eggs and toast. Everyone's eyes were immediately drawn to her plate.

"No, just rode here together." Dolan answered distractedly as Illy began to eat her eggs. Silence crept up on the group quickly, as the boys sat motionless, watching her eat.

"Excuse me, but are you voluntarily serving yourself real food and eating without Draco forcing you to?" Dolan finally asked.

"No of course not, she's just storing it in her cheeks to keep for later." Jacky shot back sarcastically.

"Yeah, Draco got to me. I guess eating's not so bad after all." Illy responded with a shrug. The statement seemed to be enough for the boys and they were soon piling food onto their own plates with veracious enthusiasm that was only spared on Jacky, who just pointed and had Dolan serve him every time that Christian looked away. Illy shot a quick glance towards Harry, and was glad to find that he was talking to Neville, who was describing something with animated hand signals. Illy returned her vision to the table before her and continued with her breakfast.

"His Dad should be dropping him off any minute now." Jacky answered Illy's unspoken question.

"I didn't even ask yet Jacky. Who says Draco's what I was thinking about?"

"The fact that you knew who he was talking about did." Christian said with a roll of his eyes.

"Speak of the devil…" Dolan said as he glanced to wards the door. Illy was out of her seat before she turned around, running towards Draco who still didn't spot her until a fraction of a second before she threw two arms around his neck. The impact would have sent Draco to the floor had the wall behind him not been there. Her fingers laced around his neck as she crushed her body into him full force, squeezing the air from his body.

"I missed you…" She struggled to come up with words that could describe the feeling.

"As much as I miss oxygen right now." Draco said with a smile. Illy released her death grip and looked up at him with a grin. "It was almost enough to kill me; the feeling was mutual." He said before wrapping his own arms around her waist. She buried her face in his chest as he pushed his feet under hers to add an inch or so to her height so that he didn't have to strain to plant a kiss on her head. He smiled once before releasing her, taking her hand, and ushering her from the great hall.

"I'm so glad you didn't put off coming back until tonight or something."

"Are you kidding? You would have killed me." He chuckled as they walked a little ways towards the door. "So, should we just get it over with a head strait for my bed, or continue with tradition and have passionate near sex in the hallway, because I'm game either way."

"Shut up!" Illy said with a giggle as she punched Draco in the arm. He laughed and gave her another quick hug before leading her outside.

"You look great." He said in a half whisper as he lightly ran his hands over the curve of her waist.

"I've gained a total of six pounds, and it's all going straight to my ass." She said with a little smirk.

"None sense, it's most definitely dropping to your thighs." He quipped. She took a seat on the nearest bench and waited for him to join her. "So I see you're wearing the clothes I got you."

"One more bit of money you wasted this Christmas." She replied as she rolled her eyes.

"I've never wasted a thing on you're over priced ass."

"Except your charm." They both laughed nervously and looked down towards their laps. Draco swallowed when he realized that he was still holding her hand. Her polished, black, fingernails shown in contrast to his pale skin as he rubbed a thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. He gave it a light squeeze and dropped it.

"Except my charm." Was all he could whisper back. His eyes remained downcast, even though he could tell she had caught sight of the person who had been following them since he stepped foot in the great hall. He could feel her pulse increasing without even touching her skin. It didn't feel right, this wasn't excitement racing through her veins, it was fear. Only then did he turn his face up to look at Harry Potter, as he took the last few steps towards Illy.

"Come." Harry's cold voice instructed. Illy glanced back at him before dropping her gaze to the ground.

"Harry, we're talking." She said in a weak voice.

"You can do that in front of me." He replied sternly. She looked desperately into Draco's eyes. She was begging him to exert some sort of power over Harry; power that he had spent the last three years trying to come up with.

"Potter I just got back. Give us a few minutes."

"She doesn't need to be seen with the likes of you. And besides she's been talking to you for the whole break on those stupid black boards." He snapped. Illy started to get up, but Draco pulled her back to her seat with a light hand on her shoulder. "Are you forcing my girlfriend to stay here with you?" Harry demanded.

"No, I'm defending my best friend to her oppressive ponce of a boyfriend." Draco shot back.

"It's fine Draco. I'll see you tonight." She put an emphasis on 'tonight' and not just for Draco, it was a double edged sword. It gave Draco a reminder of the fact that they lived together, and it was a slap in the face for Harry. She was just telling him again that he was the one she went 'home' to every night. He could feel the anger flare in his fists as they balled. He had been good enough not to fight with her too much about her ridiculous rules on what he could and couldn't do to her, but now she was practically telling him that she planned to fuck Draco Malfoy.

"Get up right now." Harry ground out through clenched teeth as he reached for Illy's hand. His grip was painfully tight as he pulled her back towards the castle. He didn't even check to be sure that they were completely out of sight before rounding on her. "You're going to fuck him!" Harry accused.

"What? No I'm not!" Illy shouted back incredulously.

"You are. You just said 'I'll see you tonight.' Don't think I'm so stupid that I don't know what's going on!" He screamed. The students that were within hearing distance quickly cleared the halls at the sight of Harry Potter's sudden, scalding anger. No one was ready to see something like that come from him.

"Nothing is going on Harry. Now just stop it." Illy said calmly before turning to walk away. Harry caught her arm and spun her back around right into his fist. His knuckles on her cheek felt ludicrously satisfactory. The soft give of her flesh when he pushed against it full speed was just what he hand been wanting all week. Illy was stunned, but, to his surprise, she didn't cry or even back away. She took the punch as though it were nothing. She whimpered at most of his slaps and hair pulls but now she was calm, as though she was punched in the side of the face everyday. Her hand gingerly found its way to her cheek. Illy dropped the hand upon confirming the growing bruise.

"I've warned you before not to talk back to-" Her hand found his cheek before he could finish, leaving his face with a red, stinging print.

"Let the fuck go of my hand." Illy said as she pulled on her wrist. Harry tightened his grip. "I'm sick of your bullshit Harry. You slap me around all the time but this is enough." She tugged harder against him. He put both hands over the arm to keep her from pulling loose. "I will scream." She said in slow determined words.

"No you won't." Harry said slowly. "You won't because for some reason you need me to make you unavailable to him." He said with sudden realization of the silent thoughts passing through her mind.

"Harry I can find someone else." She responded as she pulled again. He let go with one hand so that he could use it to hit her again. The slap wasn't that hard but she shouldn't have been able to ignore it like she did.

"What? Doesn't hurt when I hit you?" He asked with heated irritation.

"You hit like a girl." She whispered as she narrowed her eyes.

"Filthy bitch." Both hands went around her neck as he jerked her head. Illy remained calm, slowly, steadily, inhaling through her restricted windpipe. Harry's furry built with her resistance. He pushed both of them towards the wall behind them and shook her head against the stone with brutal force. "I could kill you, you stupid whore!" His words sounded muffled to her through the sounds of her skull smashing against the stone wall. Illy reached out both arms for Harry's shoulders to steady herself before moving to send a knee into his groin. He caught her knee just before it drove home, and pushed her to the floor. "I could finish you!" He shouted at the now only semi-conscious girl. 1Illy could feel the spots of black cloud her vision. She did her best to focus on the calm feeling that had been bubbling up like cold water in her stomach. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. The mantra repeated through her mind as she grasped for awareness of her limbs. Slowly her body was checking out, one bit of leg and arm, then her pelvis and her chest, now her stomach, and her neck. Harry continued with exasperation to kick at her ribs, only to find his foot bounding back as though it was hitting a wall. The adrenalin was wearing off and he could feel his toes hurting beneath his shoes. The flicker of purple light around her body startled him so much he almost fell over. Illy's swirling, colorful eyes opened suddenly and the thin vapor of deep purple spread. Harry was tripping over himself in the direction of the great hall before he knew it. Illy's vision finished clouding over with black and she could feel her body fall back to the ground roughly before she passed out.

"If you or Illy end up here carrying the other one more time I'm going to have someone investigate what the two of you do with your free time." Madam Pomfry threatened Draco.

"I wasn't even there for whatever happened this time. She was just passed out in the hallway. She walked off with Harry and the next time I saw her she was like this." Draco explained partly to himself.

"Well…I guess I'll call Snape, Dumbledore, Lupin, and McGonagall back in here. They have a meeting every time she gets sick like this, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you could go get them." Draco looked down at Illy's bruised face. The knuckle imprints were clear in their dark blue rings against the purple of the rest of her face. Her hair was matted with blood. This wasn't like usual, someone did this.

"I guess I can go…" He said with quiet struggle in his voice.

"N-No." Illy's stutter startled both Madam Pomfry and Draco. Her fingers moved to the edge of the bed where Draco's hand was resting. Two of her fingers wrapped around his thumb, like a child clinging to their parent.

"I'll stay." He told her as he crouched down to be eye level with her. "Just tell me who did it." He whispered. Illy squeezed her eyes shut, as though she was wincing in pain.

"Mr. Malfoy, she's more exhausted than she is hurt. I promise you, this could be from a seizure. She does have a knack for passing out and getting sick suddenly, she could have just taken a nasty stumble."

"She was fighting with _him_!" Draco half shouted back to the witch.

"Mr. Malfoy, please lower your voice." She hissed back. "You are accusing the boy who lived of beating up his girlfriend rather loudly."

"That is quite a heavy accusation Draco." Lupin's voice rang from the doorway. "I've already sent for everyone else." He told Madam Pomfry. She nodded once before casting a glare towards Draco and leaving the three alone. "You can go now." Lupin told Draco.

"Fuck off." Draco spat back as he pushed his fingers through Illy's. "I'm not leaving her alone with friends of his."

"I am impartial to students Draco. And if it makes you feel better Professor Snape will be here soon." Lupin said calmly.

"I don't care if you bring her parents down here, I'm not leaving." Draco said firmly as he moved even closer to Illy.

"We'll see what Dumbledore has to say about that."

"I think it's rather noble of him." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"I don't care about noble. I'm not going to let her be on her own."

"I'm fine with that. Anything that she's willing to let your hear is her own business. Just as long as you don't interrupt us or repeat anything we talk about." Dumbledore said with a wistful smile.

"A little help." Illy requested as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Draco immediately propped her up and took a seat on the edge of her bed, with her hand still clasped in his.

"Now, I think that we can all see that Miss Enquirous is not only here due to some sort of mental exertion, but also due to her physical injuries, of which Madam Pomfry informs me there are many." These words jerked Draco's attention away from the adults encircling Illy's bed and to Illy herself, who was now trying to pull her shirt down at its sleeves. Draco took her hand lightly in his and pulled the sleeves up. Illy closed her eyes and bit her lip as Draco licked his thumb and proceeded to rub at the spots that still showed bits of grey beneath the makeup. The bruises ran up as far as he pulled the shirt, and centered in a deeply purple ring around her wrist. It looked as though she had been banging her own hand against a table top. Blotches of black and blue dotted the injury that, when Draco tested it, was just slightly smaller than his own hand wrapped around her wrist.

"That fucker." Draco whispered.

"Language please." McGonagall scolded, but Draco wasn't even paying attention. He was pulling the sheets up from the bed to inspect Illy's legs. No bruises there.

"You can stay there or you can pull the curtain shut, but she's got more of these and I'm going to look at them." Draco said in a quiet voice. Dumbledore nodded to Snape and everyone but the black haired professor stepped back behind the curtain as Draco started to peel the clothing off of Illy's body while she did her best to will herself into sleep. He gave up in inching her skirt up and started to unbutton it.

"Ahem." Snape cleared his throat and shook his head 'no'. Draco flipped him the bird and continued.

"She never wears thongs with skirts…or at least not with short skirts." Draco informed the teacher as he slid the denim gently down her legs and tossed it to the floor. Bruises ranging from black to yellow, softball sized to the ping-pong ball dotted her thighs and hips, and even showed from the edges of her underwear. "See, boyshorts." Draco said to Snape, who was now doing his best to avert his gaze without leaving Draco unattended. Next her shirt slipped off over her head.

"Put your arms up Killy." Draco instructed. She did so without opening her eyes. The same ample bruises were all over her ribs, back, and near her breasts. "Are there more underneath there?" Draco asked as he tugged lightly on her bra strap. Illy nodded yes and looked down. Draco sighed and pulled the bed sheet up around her before turning back to Snape.

"They can come back now." He said in a soft, broken voice. The curtain rod clinked as it opened again to let the teachers and headmaster through.

"Damage report." Lupin shot towards Draco.

"She's covered all over her shoulders, arms, breasts, and hips in bruises, along with a few nail marks on her wrists and inner hip. This isn't some falling over accident bullshit. Her boyfriend is hitting her."

"We don't know that, we have to ask her." McGonagall said kindly, but firmly.

"Ike, who gave you all these bruises?" Snape asked quietly. Illy remained silent and leaned her head into Draco's chest. Draco draped an arm around her and faced the adults.

"She's protecting him."

"Draco, I understand your concern, but you're throwing some pretty serious accusations towards a student with no violent past." Lupin said.

"Bullocks! He beat the fuck out of me last year." Draco retorted.

"Why did he do that?" Lupin asked, as though he knew that Draco's face would turn red and his mouth would shut the second the question was posed.

"Mr. Malfoy, the point is that unless Killious is willing to come forward we can't do anything. Now I don't think we're going to get much out of Miss Enquirous, so why don't we just let her sleep." Dumbledore said with a finishing force that killed the conversation. Everyone nodded and headed out of the room.

Draco slid down in the bed and took Illy with him, careful to leave himself out of the sheets. Her breath became steady as her stomach rose and fell, pinning Draco beneath her head until she woke up again, which was fine with him. If he was free to walk around at the moment he just might go find a good way to make Harry Potter's death look like an accident.

_"Stupid, filthy, bitch!" Sir screamed as he grabbed at the girl's arm tightly. She tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened on her arm, threatening to snap it in half if she didn't stop struggling. _

"_Now he's gone and called someone to take you away." Sir lifted her into the air by her arm, only to drop her back to the hard ground and kick her square in the stomach, the contents of which spilled all over the floor. He put a boot to the back of her head and forced her face into the bile. _

"_Don't think that will mean escape, I'll come find you, and I will kill you." He said the last few words as though he were answering a question. When he lifted his boot her head bobbed back up from the floor, only to have him plant a kick that lined up perfectly with her mouth and knocked her back across the floor. The skid took skin with it as she went. _

"_But before they come, you won't want to move." He took out his wand. "Sectumsemptra!" He shouted, before sending several ribbon like gashes across her face, and torso. She curled into a ball, as though she was keeping her organs from spilling out. _

"_You turned my son against me!" He shouted the words with anguish as well as loathing as he stomped down on her good leg, crunching the bone inside. He seemed to enjoy the sensation beneath his foot because soon after he did the same to her ribs. Suddenly there was shouting from above them. Sir narrowed his eyes on her, _

"_I guess this is goodbye." He whispered as he withdrew a knife from his pocket. The blade slipped through her wrists like butter, from left to right and back again. Sir stood up and turned to leave, _

_"Lucious your house will fall by me, and your son will fall to his knees for me." She promised before another figure practically broke the door down. __2_

Illy woke up with a small start before realizing where she was. Draco was breathing lightly beneath her head, obviously in a lull of sleep. She curled her fingers around his shirt before nodding off once again.

_Thunder rolled in violent sounds just outside the large glass windows as she lay in bed, listening to the pitter patter of rain, and watching lighting split the sky with purple and white light. Her door groaned open slowly. She bolted upright in seconds, looking to see if the intruder was young or old. _

"_Can I sleep in here?" Came Draco's small voice. She sighed in relief. _

"_Of course, but do you have a reason this time?" She asked playfully. _

"_The thunder scares me." He said mischievously as he crawled into her bed, warm looking flannels clinging to his hips but not his shirt. _

"_Bullshit. 'I'm cold' might have worked better. It's hailing some out there and you have no shirt on." _

"_You can keep me warm." He responded as he started to kiss her shoulder. _

"_What if your dear old dad comes to check on you?" She asked him as she brushed the hair from his face. He looked up at her with his biggest puppy dog eyes. _

"_I really came because the thunder reminds me of you. That day out in the field when we were younger…we weren't together then, you almost let me kiss you. It was the closest we came that summer, it almost killed me. I spent the night lying on the shower floor." _

"_With the cold water turned on. The next morning you were blue and I let you stay in my bed all day." _

"_So now I want to stay all night." He said before slipping the strap of her camisole from her shoulder. She didn't protest as he pushed the shirt past her breast and began to place small suckling kisses over its nipple. Finally she let out a soft giggle. _

"_I've told you I'm ticklish." She said in a huff as she pushed him away. _

"_Your laugh is my second favorite sound. And the first might just wake the house up, so I restrained myself." He said as he pried the strap back from her fingers to drop it down and proceed with kitten-licking in lieu of kissing. She lifted his face up by his chin and leaned in for a kiss, swirled with tongues and nibbles of teeth. Suddenly he went rigid as she slipped a hand inside of his pants and wrapped her fingers gently around his member, stiffening it within the second. _

"_I'd prefer the second sound. We would shame our poor teachers if we couldn't even figure out how to use a silencing charm." He moved from his place by her side, to straddle her, pressing his erection against her panties and pulling both of her hands above her head with one of his own. _

"_Whatever you prefer." He purred. __3_

This time Illy's shot awake beside Draco, shaking with a cold sweat.

"Where the fuck is a blanket." Draco's voice rang from the dark.

"End of the bed." Illy said as she grabbed at the blanket and pulled it up around both of them.

"You have weird fucking dreams." He said suddenly, once they had settled back into comfortable spots.

"What?"

"Your dreams, they're fucked up."

"How would you know?"

"Well I did read that journal thing but…that was far worse in person than on paper." Illy moved away from him, turning on her side in the opposite direction.

"You could see them?"

"We were touching…I think it has something to do with the clairvoyance thing…but…I don't think other people would see them. You blacked out things you didn't want me to see. Like her body in the first dream, it was fuzzy, I could still tell she was naked, but the only things that really showed up were parts of her he hurt. And the last things she said to him…"

"You saw the second one too?" She asked incredulously.

"That one was quite a bit more enjoyable."

"I can't believe you saw that." She said, sounding thoroughly abashed.

"That's the one you're embarrassed about? All I missed of that one was what I said thunder reminded me of."

"So…do you see them from my perspective?" She was now turned back to face him.

"I think so…I'll admit that it was a little bit kinky to have me lick my own breast, almost as kinky as sticking my hand down my pants."

"Yeah that would be my perspective." She sighed and started to turn her back to him again.

"Stop that, we're going to figure out what all of these things mean together." He said as he snaked an arm around the sheets that she was still wrapped in, pulling her nearer as he did so.

"I don't invade upon your dreams…how would you feel?"

"On most nights, it would be nice to know that someone is cataloging my fantasies involving yourself."

"Ugh, Draco!" He laughed at her reaction and pulled her head back to his chest.

"I'm just kidding. I don't usually remember my dreams, so I don't know how I'd feel, but I'd rather have you looking at them than anyone else." He said in a whisper, before they both slipped back into sleep.

1 Illy's first experience with a force field

2 Narcissa enters here, Lucious leaves with her to yell and Draco, and while they fight Snape arrives

3 Second vision involving future Draco


	38. 37 The flames of his love

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 37

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 37

"Essays on my desk now please." Professor Snape demanded sharply as students filed into class behind him. Illy took Draco's essay from his bag while he chatted dully with Pansy and dropped it onto the accumulating stack on Snape's desk with a wink and a smile.

"Today you'll be testing potions not on your own partner, but on a Gryffindor counterpart. If I find out that any student has purposefully made their potion wrong they will fail the assignment. All of you may now begin with the potion listed on the parchment in front of you." Snape instructed before turning to sit and grade papers at his desk.

"Alright, what are we making an A on today?" Draco asked, playing up his arrogance as much as possible in front of Pansy. Illy snorted and unrolled the parchment in front of her.

"Oh look, the ever popular, never heard of Ebullience potion to induce…giggling." Illy said dryly.

"You're kidding? That's like easy-brew-cauldron stuff!" Draco half shouted.

"Just go get the ingredients." She instructed as she set the flame. Draco returned with peppermint, sugar, butterfly wings and a singular shrunken sunflower head.

"I'll crush the peppermint, you powder the wings." He commanded as he took the mortar and pestle from Illy's supplies. Illy started to caramelize the sugar just before adding the butterfly wings, which actually powdered just by brushing a thumb and forefinger together. Draco stirred the potion as it swirled yellow and green before adding the peppermint which added blue and red to the mix, followed by the petals from the sunflower which finished the rainbow sludge of a potion by ribboning the mixture with red and orange. Illy filled two vials with the potion, bringing one to Snape and leaving the second for testing, before pulling out parchment with which to finish the night's history homework.

Just as she finished the small assignment, Snape stood to call the class to a stop.

"Alright, time's up, let's see what you've managed to make." He said before withdrawing a small piece of parchment from the desktop. "Mr. Cook and Mr. Fortuno, you can test your potion on Miss Granger's table. Mr. Frost and Miss Milon, you can test on Mr. Longbottom's table. Mr. Malfoy and Miss Enquirous, you can test on Mr. Weasly's table…" As he continued on students slowly stopped listening and began to exchange nervous looks.

"What is he playing at?" Illy turned to Draco. "He knows you two can't stand one another."

"It's not that I don't like Harry in particular, it's just that abusive boyfriend types sort of make me violent."

"Exactly, so what the hell is he doing?" She asked, choosing to ignore completely Draco's taunts.

"He wants Harry to get angry enough in public to convince people that he's the one who hurt you."

"I never said that he was."

"Oh come on, he's smarter than me and I figured it out."

"Harry did not hurt me."

"And I didn't find him choking the air out of you in an alleyway."

"All of you will test your potion on one another, you may begin." Snape told the class before walking over to where Dolan and Christian had a rather suspicious looking dark blue and black potion held out cheerily to Hermione. Illy watched Jacky try to hold in a snigger before she took Draco's hand as he led her to Harry's table.

"What is that supposed to be?" Draco asked as he looked over Harry and Ron's sickly green potion.

"It's a Wordrigomigus potion." Ron said weakly.

"It's supposed to make you say word associations out loud…for interrogations and such I suppose." Harry explained.

"Well…who'll be trying ours?" Illy asked pleasantly as she moved to stand inconspicuously between Harry and Draco.

"I'm not trying anything Malfoy made." Harry snapped.

"Harry, please don't start a fight." Illy urged. Ron looked as though he could do nothing more than agree with her.

"I'll try it." He said as he snatched the bottle from Draco and downed it all in one swallow." Giggles erupted from his mouth instantly, drawing the attention of the whole class to him. Ron's hand shot to his mouth in an attempt to clamp it shut, that only worked half way, and left him using both hands to trap the laughs.

"Here." Was all Harry would say as he held his potion out to Draco.

"Forget it. I'm not drinking that crap; I might not be able to taste properly for weeks."

"Please Draco, it's not as though Harry's really that bad at this class, Snape just hates him."

"I'm not drinking it."

"Fine, I will." Illy offered before taking a large gulp out of the bottle. Her face scrunched up in a cringe at the flavor that was now in her mouth, and did her best to swallow the potion that felt like a massive bogey in her throat.

"Did it work?" Harry said hopefully. Illy just shrugged.

"We have to test it, it's not as though she was going to sprout wings if your little concoction didn't kill her."

"It was made perfectly, so just shut up." Harry retorted.

"It looks like slime."

"That's how it's supposed to look!"

"Sure it is."

"IT IS!" Harry shouted.

"Mr. Potter, would you mind terribly shutting up?" Snape asked. Harry turned a light pink shade and looked at his shoes. Snape smirked.

"So…how do we test it?"

"You made it you dolt."

"I just thought you might like the honor."

"You're just a twat. Illy, when I say the word Lucious you think…"

"Rapist."

"When I say parchment you think…" Harry started her off.

"Ink and quill. Now that we know it wor-"

"When I say snog in the hallway, you think…" Draco prompted. Illy tried to put a hand over her mouth but before she could the word had escaped.

"Draco." Harry glared at her, and then Draco. Balling his fists slowly as Illy's bashful silence overtook his chipper mood from having succeeded in making a potion.

"When I say best snog of your life you think…" Harry now urged her, with a smug look on his face. Illy's hands were tight across her mouth. Draco's mouth curved into a thin smile,

"Come on then love, don't be shy, Harry wants to know who can snog you best." He urged as he pulled her hands away from her mouth with minimal effort.

"Draco." Came her now small voice. Harry looked positively malignant as he eyed the pair.

"Thought you'd get her with that one did you Potter?" Draco jeered. "Here I know what'll get her to say your name." Draco suggested as he pushed the sleeve of Illy's sweater back to reveal the dark bruises around her wrist. "When you look at this you think…"

"Harry…." Illy's voice was so quiet that Draco and Harry almost missed it over Ron's sniggering and snorts.

"And when I touch your face here?" Draco asked as he ran a finger over the black eye from the day before.

"Harry…"

"And when I do this?" Draco made the motion to slap her.

"Harry!" She said with a wincing yell.

"I think I've made my point." Draco said darkly. "If you ever so much as kiss her with too much force again, I'll feed your balls to weasel." Draco threatened. Harry turned to see if Ron had caught any of what had transpired, but he was blissfully unaware of what was going on and was tugging at Hermione's sleeve with tears of laughter in his eyes.

"Draco…stop." Illy's soft voice let out as she reached out for his hand.

"Don't touch him. I know he's the one that did that to you. She's only saying my name because she needed me to be there and I wasn't." Harry said as the bullshit story seemed to pour from his mouth before he had even really made it up in his head.

"Sure, and she only said my name before because she wanted me there and instead you were around." Draco retorted before giving Illy's hand a weak squeeze, and turning away to walk from Harry and Illy to where Snape was grading Neville's disaster of a potion.

"Obviously it worked. Now do me a favor and don't become him. She doesn't need some teacher abusing her nerves as well." He ground out through clenched teeth. Snape was silent in response. Draco shook his head, sighed, and turned on his heel to head for the door. Snape reached out for his shoulder,

"I'm not sure what you think you're accusing me of Mr. Malfoy, but I encourage you to choose your words carefully."

"You got Potter to get angry, and now he's going to try and pin the whole thing on me. And to really top off your disaster, now she's going to be pissed off at both of us because you tried to manipulate her, and I did your dirty work, as well as threatened her boyfriend. So congratulations, she hates me even more than she did."

"I did not try to manipulate her."

"Bullshit. You think I don't know you did the same thing to me? Go fuck yourself. I am not your henchman." Draco spat before twisting out of Snape's grip and storming from the room.

"He passed all four of us." Killious impelled as she sat down for lunch with Harry.

"I'm going to talk to Dumbledore about what Malfoy did to you." Was all Harry would say. She reached for a sandwich gingerly as she thought out the best way to phrase her next few words.

"Harry, please…don't do that. He's got Snape on his side, and the Wordrigomigus potion to use against you. Just let it go." She said with a sigh. Harry had taken a liking to the story he managed to come up with earlier that afternoon and seemed to be convincing himself more and more steadily that it was what actually occurred the afternoon before.

"Whatever." He responded snappily as he served himself a bowl of corn chowder.

"It's good advice Harry. Just let things go before you get yourself in trouble."

"You just want to defend that fop."

"I'm trying to defend you, if you would stop being so damn stubborn."

"Why don't you just go fuck him and get it over with? You've already shared that he's better at a few other things." Harry said in heated anger. She turned to look him in the eye.

"Stop acting like such a jealous twat!" She yelled before starting to stand up.

"Don't talk to me like that!" He shouted back as he too stood.

"I'm going to the library." Illy pressed bitterly as she gathered her bag from the ground.

"You mean you're running off to play his whore again." He responded just loud enough for her to hear as she left.

After transfiguring a medium sized bottle of butter beer into firewhisky and promptly downing the whole thing: classes passed quickly and smoothly for Illy. Aside from the fact that she was plastered for the majority of the afternoon studies, she was certain that the day would improve by dinner, which she chose to spend at the Slytherin table, rather than with Harry.

"Are you drunk? Because your breath smells like the bottom of a Jack Daniel's bottle." Jacky asked scandalously after everyone had taken their seat, with Christian to Jacky's left, Dolan on Christian's left, Illy across from Jacky and flanked by Draco, who was being molested by Pansy at the moment.

"No, now I'm just tipsy. In herbology I was drunk…and in charms come to think of it." Illy said with a sedated smile and a surprisingly level tone.

"So, Harry and Draco been getting along famously then I guess?" Christian asked with a grimace.

"Sure, sure. Draco wants to kill Harry for hurting me, Harry claims it was Draco and wants to go to the headmaster, and I blacked out for the whole thing so I'm fucked over."

"That bad?" Jacky said with a hint of understanding.

"That bad." She responded.

"At least you didn't get caught in class…" Jacky tried to be encouraging.

"Yeah, well, I've been drunk for more important things than some stupid boys."

"Are you going to eat something?" Draco asked suddenly, as he had just managed to pry Pansy from his mouth.

"I would advise against that, unless you want her to spew chunks all over your lap." Dolan said with a chuckle. Illy only nodded in agreement and sipped her water.

"What did Harry do?" Draco questioned in a serious voice.

"He's sending your ass over to his pet headmaster." Christian explained.

"What, with that bullshit about my hurting her?"

"That bullshit indeed," Harry's voice rang from behind Draco.

"What do you want?" Draco sneered.

"I'm here to collect my girlfriend. She's drunk and she's embarrassing herself."

"On the contrary good Misses Potter, she's quite the expert drunk. I would go so far as to say she's spent days at a time in a state like this. I might also shed light to the fact that the only reason you know she's had anything to drink at all, is because you've been eaves dropping on us." Jacky jeered.

"Shut your mouth, trashy fucking ponce."

"Now Misses Potter, not all of us are worthy enough to take part in the pursuit scrumptious men you manage, but do be kind." Jacky continued. Dolan and Christian exchanged a quick glance and joined in.

"Of course Misses Potter, we would be honored with your presence if you would like to sit with us." Dolan suggested.

"I might even give you a copy of my Christmas card." Christian said with a wink.

"Ugh, don't even talk to me. You're all a bunch of fags!" Harry exclaimed with disgust. Jacky grabbed Harry's tie and pulled him so close that his lips brushed Harry's ear,

"On the contrary, I believe it is you who had a taste of sweet Mr. Malfoy… Perhaps you even tasted more than his mouth." Jacky said huskily just before shoving Harry back to his spot on the other side of the table.

"Don't you fucking touch me!" Harry began to draw his fist back.

"You touch him, and I'll use your heart in my next potion." Dolan threatened as he almost leapt from the table.

"She's not going anywhere with some git whose got his gender and sexuality all muddled." Draco informed Harry with dry cynicism.

"You're all going to bloody well pay for this." Harry spat.

"Will Misses Potter force himself upon us in vengeance?" Jacky said with a ridiculously foppish accent. Christian chuckled on carried on in a voice several times more over-the-top,

"I daresay that he just might. How will poor Killious handle the news of his promiscuous and violent behavior?"

"She'll probably just down another bottle of firewhisky and go to class." Dolan said under his breath.

"This is your last chance to hand her over Malfoy." Harry prompted with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Honestly Potter, she'd probably rather just run off and play my whore." Draco said in a quiet but firm voice, "So get the fuck out of my sight before I let her hoard of old English fag's loose on you."

Harry fumed for several seconds before finally abandoning all hope of getting Illy to come with him.

"We should get her to bed; she's just transfigured two glasses of pumpkin juice." Draco said with a sigh.

"Jesus, if she gets to develop a drinking problem I want one too." Jacky said with a small smirk as he wrapped some food in napkins and got ready to help Draco with Illy.

Pansy snorted at the scene of all four boys putting Illy to bed. Food sat by her nightstand, along with a butterbeer and a bucket. Draco draped a wet rag over her forehead while Jacky pulled up her covers.

"This is ridiculous, she's just drunk." Pansy finally said.

"Why don't you help us out then Pansy, you're a girl; what do you want after a hangover?" Dolan asked.

"Same thing I want right now."

"And that would be?" Christian pushed. Pansy smirked and used both hands to make Draco face her. She moved within an inch of his body and pressed her hips against his,

"A good ride on Draco Malfoy's cock." She responded in her best sexy voice. Draco rolled his eyes and tried to turn back to Illy.

"And how would that go?" Christian continued to question. Pansy started to loosed Draco's buckle,

"First I would get down on my knees," She started. Christian raised an eyebrow as she finished unzipping Draco's pants and took hold on his member, so that she could slip it from his pants.

"And then I would start to suck him off," She continued by putting his barely erect cock in her mouth. Christian and Jacky did their best not to look, and instead both shot their glances towards the now sleeping Illy.

"Drakie, doesn't this get you off?" Pansy asked in a disappointed whine, as he stayed unresponsive. Draco shot a glance down towards Illy just as Pansy began to suck again, the thought ran through him before he could stop it.

"Much better." She said before she continued to bob her head, drawing him in and out of her mouth.

"We're leaving." Jacky and Christian said together. "Don't wake her up." Jacky added before they slipped out of the door towards the boys' dorm. Draco's grip on Illy's night stand tightened as Pansy used her hand to help.

"Pansy, I'm a bit lost as to what you'd do next." Christian whimpered with an evil grin on his face. Pansy smiled back at him seductively.

"Well, after a little while I would get back off my knees," She narrated. "And I would lift up my skirt" She said with a little giggle as she showed off her shaven, pantiless form to both Draco and Christian.

"Stop it." Draco said before she could continue. "Stop it right now Pansy." She only smiled at him.

"It's a bit too late for that now isn't it Drakie." She said as she tightened her grip on his cock. Draco let out a low grunt, which left Pansy's face positively glowing. Draco wrapped his hand around her wrist.

"You see her arms?" He asked harshly. Pansy looked down at Illy's arms for the first time and let out a small gasp. "Unless you want yours to look the same let me go now and get out of my sight." Pansy's face paled considerably as she released Draco and dropped her eyes to the floor. Christian let out a light chuckle while she walked out of the room slowly.

"Stupid wench." Draco mumbled.

"I must say Draco, she has a bit of an imagination doesn't she. She'd do absolutely anything to get you off, but you were as limp as Jacky in the girl's shower until the second that you looked at Illy. Even I have to admit that's a little bit sick." Christian said in a low voice as Draco zipped and buckled his pants.

"The most disturbed person in this room by far is you. None of that would have happened if you weren't such a sick fuck." Draco countered as he pushed past Christian.

"Look, I happen to like Pansy, we work out well together. And I don't really appreciate you using her all the time when you find her about as arousing as shag rug."

"What I use is none of your business you sick bastard. I don't know why she's friends with you, but I won't be, so don't come near me." Draco shot back as he continued towards the door.

"Draco, if it was Illy, you would have done the same thing I did." Christian hollered down the hall after Draco. Illy mumbled just a bit before turning over. "Sorry you had to hear all that…I don't think he knew you were awake." Christian briefly apologized over his shoulder before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

_Draco slipped quietly from the room, taking the dirty dishes, and the dictionary he had brought with him. The girl sighed, and rolled over to go to sleep, satisfied with young sir's most recent visit. She faintly heard lingering footsteps on the stairs but ignored them, and pulled her knees to her chest. The dim sound scuffed its way closer towards the door rather than away from it, but still she did her best to ignore, it was probably just Draco considering the option of sitting with her for a few more minutes. The knob of the door finally turned and she sat up with a small smile to greet him. Her grin faded upon seeing who had really entered the room. Sir stumbled drunkenly towards her with a lascivious smirk on his face. _

_"He came to see you again, how sweet." He remarked. She remained silent, her eyes fixed on the odd metal object he was holding. _

"_Want to see?" He asked her excitedly. She recoiled and started back towards the wall. "It's an invention of the disgusting muggles. It seems the only thing they can do right is make torture devices and then they don't even used them right." He almost slipped when he went forward to grab her, but recovered and managed to take hold of her arm forcibly. She struggled only slightly, debating internally as to whether a beating from her refusal to obey, or whatever he already had planed would be worse. She didn't have long to think it over before Sir knocked her to the ground and took a heavy seat on one of her legs. _

_"Now give me your hands." He commanded. She pulled them away, but he had her trapped beneath him and managed to take hold of them easily, in one hand. _

"_It's a blow torch. They produce a controllable, super concentrated flame. Muggles use them to bind metal, let's see what it does to flesh." Her eyes widened as Sir pulled a set of goggles over his eyes and started the torch. She could feel the heat from the flame before it touched her leg. _

_Skin, muscle, all of it, just melted like butter under a hot knife for the blowtorch. Sir started out inches away, and came slowly closer to the ankle of her free leg. She was howling with pain before it touched her. She had never squealed so loudly in her life. _

_The torch started to ease its way up to her knee with excruciating sloth. Her whole body was writhing with pain. Sir could hardly hold her still beneath him while he cackled at her fits of kicking and bucking. He had placed one foot on the knee of her afflicted leg to keep it still. _

"_If you were so energetic when I fuck you, you might make a half decent whore." He snapped when he turned to torch off momentarily. The smell of her burning flesh was intolerable in her nostrils. Her lungs rejected the scent, and her ears tried to ignore the sound of her skin and blood sizzling. Her body was still involuntarily convulsing when the torch started again. She could feel herself starting to loose consciousness in the pain, she bellowed out a last resort at the top of her lungs, _

"_DRACO HELP ME!" She had never called for him before, and she could only pray that he would come before she slipped into black, still flopping about beneath Sir, even when she had lost her ability to even perceive the pain. _

_It seemed like hours before she could feel again, but it must have only been a matter of minutes, Sir still hadn't reached her knee when Draco flung the door open. _

_"Would you like to try Draco?" He asked maniacally, as his son gapped. After a second or so of silence Sir turned the flame of the torch back on and started to lower it to the girl's leg again. _

"_You! …Y-you leave her a-alone. I'm c-c-calling S-sna-"_

"_You'll do no such thing!" Sir interrupted vehemently. _

"_I will. I already woke mom up." Draco stepped aside to let his mother come in the door. _

"_Narcissa…" Sir said softly, bowing his head and seeming for a fraction of a second…ashamed?_

"_I'll call him unless you get up stairs! I may not be enough for you but this is ridiculous! Are you so twisted that this is what it takes?" She screamed in a raspy voice as tears trickled down her face. "I've followed you through everything! But this bastard child has been here too long!" She bellowed, pointing a finger to the girl, who flinched as though she had been slapped. _

"_Don't talk about her like that!" Draco suddenly interjected. "Just because that sick fuck has been beating and raping her on a regular basis doesn't mean she's not a good person." _

"_Draco don't be so sympathetic, she's a mud-blooded, fatherless, whore." His mother said quite plainly, as though she was reminding him that the sky was blue. _

"_She is not!" Draco yelled. _

"_Son, she's just a little half breed." Sir said, suddenly feeling as though being on his wife's side might get him out of trouble. _

"_Shut the bloody hell up!" Draco snapped savagely. "She's beautiful, and she's smart, and she's nice, and all you can do is destroy her, just like you do everything else!" Draco shouted back. His voice quavered lightly in the face of his father and mother. They just sneered at him and rolled their eyes. Narcissa leaned down to face him, putting both hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes, _

"_Draco, she doesn't deserve to live. She doesn't deserve magic. And I'm not saying she deserves this, but really." She shook her head and stood again. _

"_I found his coat in here, the last time I was down." She could hear Sir whisper to Narcissa, but Draco missed it, as he made his way to where she lay. _

_"Hey Sweetie…I promise I'll fix this." Draco said in a hush as he motioned for the girl to let him see her leg. She tried but the pain was too much. _

"_I'm going to help you sit up, so that I can look at it. I have to know what I need to heal it." He told her, while he choked back tears of his own. She nodded in response. He placed an arm around her waste and lifted her up, _

"_Is this your bad leg?" He asked her while he stared into the open wound. It produced the same effect as a train wreck, he couldn't stop staring, and he could hardly keep the panic rising in his stomach from erupting. _

"_No, that's the left one." She said in a surprisingly level voice. Draco nodded; the adrenaline in her system was already helping her cope with the fresh injury. He sighed before looking up at his parents who were eyeing him as though he were touching a decaying body. _

_"She needs help. I'm going to get the potions from upstairs…and I'm going to send for St. Mungoes." _

"_You will not!" Narcissa roared. "You know that your father would get in serious trouble if anyone found out about her. I don't even know how you can touch that…thing." She said as she pointed. _

"_He's been fucking her twice a week, why don't you have him give you a crash course." And with that Draco disappeared up the stairs, only to rush back down two minutes later. His parents hadn't moved, they were quietly fighting over what was to be done, and neither of them even noticed the bottle Draco held in his hands until it was too late. _

_"Don't waste that on her!" Sir yelled just as Draco poured the singular phoenix tear from the bottle and onto the girl's open wound. The tear stung as it burned away bad skin and replaced it with fresh flesh. The girl's fingers raked down Draco's back at the sudden shock of having her bone re-grow. _

Illy shot up right in bed, running a hand instinctively over her right leg. She traced her fingers lightly over the long, thin, discolored portion there. The skin was permanently lightened by scar tissue.

"And ice skating accident." She assured herself before climbing out from beneath her comforter. As she stepped away from her bed she was sharply reminded of the night before when she noticed the food on her end table. Without sparing time to brood about Draco she picked up the butterbeer and downed it quickly on her way to change for a good hard run.

Draco was in the common room when she came out of the girl's hall for her morning run. She gave him a funny look before he lifted one sneaker clad foot in the air and shook it lightly,

"Let's go for a run." He said smoothly.

The cold air was crisp and sharp in Illy's lungs, the crunch of the now thin layer of snow relieving, the blow of the wind kept her from over heating at all in her long-sleeved shirt, and yet amidst the perfect running conditions, Draco's presence was more intrusive than welcoming. His mood was just a notch above grumpy in her presence, meaning that in all reality he was mad as fuck. She had passed her mood onto him by running him as hard as she could. He'd always been one of the faster people on the quidditch team, but regardless she could overtake him in a foot race any day. His breaths were becoming jagged as he did his best to keep up with her. Even she was started to feel the pain in her lungs from taking in the icy air too often and trying to process it too fast. As they separated to navigate a small patch of trees on their second lap Illy ventured to break the silence, "Why the sudden decision to start running?"

Draco responded by sucking in a large breath of air and calling out "Break!" She smiled and walked to the end of the clump of foliage to meet Draco, who had both hands on his knees to support himself while he gasped out breaths.

"Or more aptly, why the sudden decision to start killing yourself?"

"Fuck you."

"We tried that once, you're fucking Pansy now remember?"

"Not…as of….last night." He managed to get out between breaths. Illy snorted and started to keep walking.

"I think that as of last night she was pretty confident of facts that say otherwise." Draco had started to follow her, but stopped in his tracks when she finished the statement.

"Did Christian tell you something?"

"He only apologized for letting that little display of affection go on while I was still awake." She said bitterly, before picking up her pace to a light jog.

"I didn't know… I would have never…"

"But I just so happened to wake up, so let's not talk about what you would have done while I was passed out next to the two of you." Draco's irritation was giving him fuel to run faster,

"That's not even fair! You snog my worst enemy in front of me all the time, so you have no place to talk!"

"And yet I'm best friends with my boyfriend's worst enemy, maybe we just need to rethink who has rights to say what!"

"You don't even give a damn about him."

"And you care a hell of a lot about her! You couldn't even get it up until you looked at me!"

"Who says it was you?"

"So you're going to deny the fact to me, but not to Christian? Cut the bullshit Malfoy."

"Don't call me Malfoy, Enquirous!" Draco shouted at her as they approached the portion of the lake facing the castle once more.

"Stop acting like a child and go home!" She finally screamed before taking off into a sprint and leaving him to gasp at air for the rest of his walk back to a shower.

Draco's morning only turned more sour as he made his way from breakfast to each class, during which Illy would take care to linger by Harry and show him more attention than he had ever naturally roused in her.

"So, do you want to work on our potions essay, or head out to see Hagrid first?" She asked Harry sweetly as they started to leave their potions class hand in hand. Draco took note that his grimace of disgust was mirrored by Snape's. His expression only sank further when Harry responded,

"Let's do the essay, that way we can work in the back of the library, by ourselves." Harry said with a foolish, lusty, grin that managed to deceive all of no one as to what he was really planning for the library trip.

Illy bit her lip at the thought of going through another boundaries oriented fight with Harry.

"I dunno, they'll be a lot of people in the library, I mean we've all got the essay, and it is due tomorrow."

"Yeah thanks to you two." Draco said mostly to himself. Harry turned around suddenly to face the blond,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the whole reason we have extra homework is because my lab partner kept running off to flirt with you." Draco informed dryly.

"I'll meet you at lunch." Illy said before slipping away to avoid witnessing yet another of the fights that had broken out during the day.

"It was a group assignment we were aloud to move from table to table." Harry said bitterly.

"But she spent the whole time with you! He's not stupid, he knows when his students aren't working."

"You two normally spend quite a bit of time together that he conveniently doesn't notice."

"We're lab partners, and not only that, we always get our work done. You didn't even submit your work."

"Well Illy did, so what do we have to do with the essay?"

"It's an essay on all of the potions you happened to omit an analysis of numb-nuts!"

"Lot's of people didn't make proper analysis' of those potions!"

"But you were the only dumb fuck who failed to even so much as look at all of them!"

"Don't get mad at me because I got to spend my class hour with my girlfriend while you got to sit and wallow in your own hurt pride because you fucked things up with her!"

"You probably don't even know what we're fighting about do you?" Draco spat. Harry opened his mouth to reply before realizing that he, in fact, had no idea what Illy was mad at Draco about, and for that matter, he really never did.

"She keeps her quarrels private. They're not my business."

"Yeah, they're only the business of myself, Jackquinne, Dolan, Christian, and sometimes Hermione and Ron."

"She doesn't tell her friends anything that she wouldn't tell me."

"Then why don't you ask Dolan what we're fighting about?" Draco tempted as he pointed to Dolan who lethargically came to do his friends bidding.

"Fine then, what are they fighting about?" Harry inquired.

"Pansy gave Draco oral last night when we went to put Illy to bed because she got shit face after you upset her at dinner. Draco tried to make her stop, but she wouldn't, and he failed to notice that Illy was in face awake for the whole even." Dolan said quickly, only slowing pace to answer before moving away from the fight that was now making everyone in the hall so uncomfortable that they were practically pressing themselves up against the walls to avoid the pair.

"No wonder she hates you." Was all Harry said before turning to leave. "That's way worse than slapping some sense into her now and again Malfoy." He called over his shoulder with a mischievous look in his eye.

Draco let out a sigh and decided against pursuing the fight further. The hall was now almost clear of students, as they had all headed to lunch. He considered joining them but decided that eating was the last thing he wanted to do right now. So instead he turned around and headed back to Snape's room, still feeling heated and ready to fight the teacher for answers.

The knock resounded angrily against Snape's door, as Draco's knuckles sought the release of hitting something.

"Yes" Snape said as a welcome.

"It's time to tell me what happened to her."

"Who?" Snape asked coolly.

"That girl my dad had in the basement all those years ago." Draco let out in frustration. Snape stiffened in his seat.

"Mr. Malfoy… We're not going to discuss this."

"I'm not little kid; if she's dead just say so." Draco demanded.

"Fine…She's dead." His voice quavered slightly with the lie in his mouth.

"You're lying." Draco said with narrowed eyes.

"The little girl you knew is dead. She's never going to show up and declare herself the love of your life, she's never going to show up at all. Let it go."

"This is bullshit. I got you because I thought of all the people I knew you would help me."

"I did. I got her out of there. There's no reason that you should think that means I would spend my life guarding her."

"You made a blood oath."

"If you wanted an insurance policy you should have gone through the rituals to bind me to my word."

"If I had known how to I would have!" Draco shouted, and then went silent. "Actually, I wouldn't have. I would have assumed that you meant to keep your word…" The boy's sudden loss of fiery passion startled Snape. His second favorite student stood broken before him.

"You and Illy are fighting I take it."

"When aren't we?"

"What's it about now?"

"Nothing I care to repeat to you…" Draco instinctively let out, before sighing and explaining. "Just stuff with me and Pansy. She's aloud to run around with that prat Potter all she wants, but if I have a girlfriend she's jealous…There's no way to make her happy. She doesn't want Potter, and she doesn't want me to be with Pansy, but…"

"There are things she needs to find out about herself before she'll be ready. Be patient."

"I am being patient! Do you see me pestering her? Do you see me trailing after her like puppy dog? No, I'm just trying to make things less frictional."

"Maybe Potter is better for her than you think."

"You're one hundred percent full of bullshit." Draco said blankly before leaving and heading out to finish his morning run during lunch.


	39. 38 Chocolates and Books

AN: This is so long overdue. I doubt I have readers at this point but still, I'm going to send some of the old fans a message. I'm sorry I let this go. I loved writing it. I loved re-reading it so that I could continue it, and therefore I want to finish it. I hope other people can enjoy it just as much.

After two steady weeks of Draco and Harry's refusal to call some kind of truce Illy started to head across the lawn towards the field. The two were fighting more and more often everyday, and while it kept Harry from getting violent with herself, she could help but think that if it didn't come to an end soon she just might collapse. The wind on the quidditch field was whipping through the spectators as much as it was going to whip through the player's brooms. As the Slytherin team slowly made their way down to the field, shouting insults at Ravenclaw, they were all internally panicked about the conditions they were facing, well everyone except maybe the beaters, who were too thick to think about much at all; but Killious put on her best game face and got ready for the pre-game psychological warfare that Slytherin was so famous for.

"Leave my team alone Malfoy!" The captain bellowed at Draco, who had just been telling the opposing team that if they resigned he was sure he could get the teachers to give them more homework as a reward.

"Aw, are you playing hero?" Draco taunted.

"It looks like someone over there is more than just a walking encyclopedia!" One of the boys on Slytherin shouted along.

"Yeah, well we're about to give you the definition of victory in a minute." Another one of the Ravenclaw's let out, this time it was the girl flanking the captain to the left. The Slytherin's howled with laughter. Illy smiled and put her hands up to calm her teammates,

"Calm down guys, she can't come up with anything herself, she's got to get all of her jokes from books." And the Slytherin's continued to laugh at the girl, who was now bright red.

"It's ok Stella." The captain comforted her with a hand around her shoulder.

"Yeah don't worry Stella, you two can go look up comfort sex later." Draco said in a falsely sympathetic voice.

"Don't talk to my girlfriend like that!" A taller brunette student who was trailing just behind the team screamed.

"The captain or Stella?" Illy asked in a voice that perfectly faked genuine confusion. At this point Stella was crying and both the Captain and Stella's boyfriend were bright red in the face.

"Alright, that's quite enough from you. Go to you're lockers." Cho commanded authoritatively.

"Yes Ma'am." Christian said with a wink and a salute that made Cho blush.

Just before the last three players of the Slytherin team, being Illy, Draco, and Christian, who were still laughing, made their way into the locker room to get ready Matty Melrose came runny towards them, face bright red with traces of her normally reserved nature, shouting,

"I'm rooting for you Illy!" She winked before turning to find a seat, and the three burst out laughing once again.

"Wow, Melrose's got it bad for you Illy" Draco started.

"Get fucked Malfoy." Illy said flatly before Christian could say something as well.

"She's still pissed at you." Christian taunted. Illy smiled and took the turn towards the girl's lockers.

"She won't be helpful at all this game will she?" Draco asked.

"Not to you." Christian replied.

The frozen blows of the wind lashed out against the players as they approached starting positions, only adding to the worry that the looming black clouds caused. The dark sky threatened more of the sleet-like rain that had suddenly poured down the day before, and as such most of the spectators had rain slickers on. Illy glanced towards the Gryffindor section of the stands to catch a glimpse of her friends, noting that only Harry was sitting on the bench they often occupied, looking angry and frustrated more than anything. Curiosity got the best of her and she took a glance over towards her own section of the stands just before mounting her broom and rising into the air; Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Dolan, Jackquinn, and Matty all sat together holding a large banner reading: "GO KILLIOUS" in sparkling green print.

Killious chuckled to herself and started after the quaffle with speed to match the wind.

"Illy is in possession of the quaffle even though she got a late start there. Catching a glimpse of that lovely banner a suppose, it's too bad her boyfriend Harry Potter isn't there to support her"

"Lee, focus on the game!" McGonagall shouted.

"Right-o, Miss M. Illy's getting a little bit of trouble from Rodgers, but he's been hit by a bludger from Goyle on Slytherin. It seems that Draco has yet to catch sight of the snitch, and the same for Cho."

Illy dodged a bludger from Stella and weaved in between Christian and the Captain of the Ravenclaw team, who were both expecting her, though the captain didn't seem to be expecting Christian.

"She's going for a score, she's lining it up, no bludgers headed her way!" The last bit of the commentary seemed to be a way of imploring someone from Ravenclaw to stop Illy before…

"She's gotten the first points for Slytherin, went straight through Harkins on Ravenclaw's team and had him ducking to avoid being hit in the head! That thing must have been going two hundred miles an hour! It looks like she's working out a bit of anger on the opposing team this morning."

"And now the bludgers come! One from the left almost hits Illy but she's ducked it, only to get side winded by the next one, as gives a good hit in the stomach."

"Crabbe's got hold of a bludger himself now and has sent it towards Cho, who just caught sight of the snitch. It's made contact with the back of her broom, Miss Chang has spun out of control! She safe, but she's lost sight of the snitch, as it appears Malfoy has as well. "

The winds picked up brutally as the game wore on and on, tossing players back and forth with sudden gusts, which for some reason only served to pull the Dementors closer to the field. After an hour and thirty minutes of struggling against nature the score was in favor if Slytherin by ten points and heavy sheets of sleet began to pour from the sky. Chilling the players to the bone and weighing their clothing down with frozen water.

"This game is really no fun anymore we're all freezing; so someone catch that snitch!" Lee-Jordan begged the players as they continued to do their best in the bad conditions. Illy could hardly hold onto her broom, her mind was getting cloudy again, and as much as she tried to shake of the feeling and focus she could tell what was coming. She could feel it in her gut as she did her best to swallow down the black tar-like vomit she had thrown up before on one or two occasions.

"Draco and Cho have lost sight of the snitch all together; they're both now just sort of mulling about and looking for it. Even worse is how the sleet has rendered the bludgers as only a mild irritant seeing as everyone is frozen numb! So it's up to the chasers to take this game, it's too bad that their vision is being blocked by the lack of sunlight and they keep running into teammates. Enquirous still has the quaffle but she's not making a whole lot of progress, it looks like she's slowing down quite a bit." Illy did her best to hold the ball in her hand tightly and fly straight but her dizziness was getting worse by the second, things were turning a blotchy shade of black, she passed to the nearest Slytherin, regardless of their actual position and held tight to the broom handle,

"That was an odd move for Illy, she dropped the quaffle down to Malfoy who passed it on to Fortunato, but now she's practically sitting still. Malfoy's flying up to check on her…"

_Illy could hardly think fast enough to avert her face from the wooden paddle that was aiming for an oncoming bludger. The hard surface cracked across the back side of her skull, she sat still only for a moment before the small metal ball followed up the paddle by flouncing lightly into her head, and then she started to spiral down towards the ground._1

"But Illy's attentive again. Look out!" As Lee shouted virtually the whole stadium pulled in a breath of air, "Crabbe's sent a late bludger towards Stella, and Stella has just almost hit Killious in the face with a paddle, but she managed to catch in a take it from her, she's steadied herself now and…Dear Merlin! She just hit the snitch like she was playing baseball, and Malfoy's caught it!" The crowd was jumping up and down with excitement over the sequence of events.

"That was incredible! In a matter of seconds Enquirous got it together enough to steal an opposing team member's paddle, escape injury, and hit the game winning snitch with it right into the hands of her team's seeker! It's totally unheard of! I think we might have found something that trumps Potter's amazing catch of a snitch with his mouth!"

The teams both grateful headed towards the ground to shake hands and be off, everyone in Ravenclaw seemed happy enough that the game was over to overlook their defeat. As the players started to leave the field the rain only picked up, making it impossible to see someone more than a few feet from your face. Slytherin's team members walked in a tight group of one another, shouting and talking excitedly to one another. Draco was left a spot next to Illy; his team was still for the most part, unaware of their feud.

"Illy that was amazing." Draco whispered to her.

"I was aiming for you head." She said coldly. "And now I think I'm going to go take a shower." She finished as she rubbed her temples and started towards the back exit from the stadium, to avoid the crowds.

"I'm sorry ok! It was wrong and stupid and I'll never, ever do it again!" Draco shouted through the sleet to her, even though she was only a matter of feet from him. Illy stopped walking and turned to face him. Draco stepped closer to her, wary that the look he saw on her face might only be a cruel trick.

"That's all I needed to hear." She assured him, before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"What's this on the field? It looks like Potter's girl is in the arms of another man! Good luck with that fireball Mr. Malfoy!" Lee sang out,

"Put the wand down Lee, the game is over!" McGonagall scolded.

"Are you two coming to shower off?" Christian asked after the little announcement. "For your sake I would want to take as long as I could before I had to deal with Harry." He suggested as they started to walk towards showers.

"I think we gave half the school pneumonia." Draco said lightheartedly as they approached the split for boys and girls. "So, before Harry sweeps you away, how did you manage that insane play?" He asked her. Christian stopped to listen in,

"I saw it coming ahead of time…kind of cheating in a way I guess, but whatever, no one else will ever know, and that paddle was going to de-broom me and send me down to break my neck, so who cares?"

By the time Illy finished showering off and changing Draco and Harry were already fighting. She considered for a moment running from the whole scene, maybe the twins would save her, or possibly Dolan and Jacky, bloody hell in all honesty she should probably go ahead and talk to Snape about her little experience on the field. She could hear them just outside the door, shouting muffled curses at one another savagely. 'Oh well, no way to avoid it without jumping out a window' she decided before pushing through to the other room.

"Keep your hands off of her Malfoy!"

"We didn't do anything wrong! It was only a hug and just because Lee-Jordan thinks that everything is a joke doesn't mean he's not making things up."

"Some fucking hug! I know about you, you just want anything you can't have!"

"Bullshit! You think I'm trying to take her from you? She'd be with me if that was the case. But I'm not going to manipulate her just to make her do what I want."

"You couldn't even get Pansy to do what you want."

"Let me just drop a quick reminder that I had you on your knees Potter!" Draco finally let out. Illy immediately glanced around to see in any of the other players were still in the room, but they weren't. It sounded like the place was abandoned, save for the three of them. By the time she turned back Harry had already pulled his fist back, ready to give Draco a black eye in a second.

"Take it back!" He demanded through gritted teeth.

"Say please."

"I won't ask you for anything."

"Well you were begging then." Draco said as he narrowed his eyes and prepared himself for the punch. Harry released his fist, but to the shock of everyone in the room Draco caught his fist and shoved it back towards Harry. Harry tried the other fist, only to have Draco catch and hold it this time.

"Let go of me Malfoy!"

"Stop trying to hit me."

"You deserve it."

"I guess you think she deserves it too!"

"I've never even thought about hitting her!"

"I guess thinking about it might make you want to stop so I understand your conundrum." Draco said coldly. Harry sent the next fist forward suddenly, connecting it with Draco's face awkwardly, as Draco had managed to react with a punch to Harry's gut at the same time.

"STOP IT!" Illy shouted from behind the boys. Draco didn't seem bothered by the small red spot on his face, but Harry immediately doubled over.

"Illy, get your friend under control." Harry pleaded.

"You're the one who was taunting him." She responded with a roll of her eyes. Harry stood up and focused on her, dropping the act of horrible pain he had taken up.

"I said, 'get him under control'…now!" He commanded.

"I can't get him to do anything. Hell, I send a snitch into his face and he apologizes for being a jackass. You think that I have any control over him?" She asked with a grin and a wink in Draco's direction.

"We should go talk to Snape." Draco said firmly to Illy.

"Are you trying to tell _my_ girlfriend what to do?" Harry asked coldly.

"Stop being so protective dumbass, she doesn't have to go now, but she _should_ go, and I wanted to take her to his office." Draco snapped. "If you don't mind…" He added after catching a glance from Illy.

"We'll go now." She said cheerily as she picked up her gym bag, that was now dripping with the wet quidditch uniforms of the whole team. As she started to sling the bag over her shoulder Draco reached out and took it from her.

"I would hate to get her wet." Draco explained to Harry, as the three of them started to walk towards school. "Because then there'd be one more thing she'd be screaming my name for." Draco whispered to Illy.

"Shut up!" She giggled before shoving him a few steps to the left jovially. Harry groaned.

"I'll tell Ron to stay up so we can go sneak food I guess…"

"I think we're going to have a party in the common room." Draco informed.

"I'll come with you and Ron around eleven ok?"

"Fine." Harry said spitefully before turning to head for the stairs.

"So, why don't you just have the houselves wash these things again?" Draco asked Illy while they walked down towards the dungeons.

"Number one, they have enough clothing on their hands to worry about without adding our grass stained, sweaty, dirty uniforms to the mess, and two, I think that hand washing them is good luck."

"And where do you get that theory?"

"After our first game I did a reading with some tea leaves, it said that I should do things by hand and the uniforms were sitting right there. And here we are, with another victory."

"Right." Draco laughed a little before knocking on the door to Snape's office lightly.

"Back to yell at me some more Mister Malfoy?" Snape asked as he opened the door.

"Oh…Ike." He swallowed as he looked down at her and then back at Draco. "What can I help you two with?"

"I opened an oblivion gate in the girl's bathroom and I can't get it to go away." Illy said in perfect seriousness.

"You did what?" Snape asked with wide eyes.

"Just kidding." She said with a smile as she pushed past him and made her way into the room. Draco followed with a little chuckled and took a seat next to hers.

"What are you here for then?" He asked again, though not as wearily this time. Illy reached across the desk and picked up the silver framed picture of the blond girl, just as Snape took his seat behind the desk.

"Illy had another vision during the game today." Draco explained. She was silent as she touched the photo lightly and stared intently at the figure posing for her.

"What was it about?"

"What was going to happen next in the game; it saved her from getting hit in the head with that paddle Stella had." Draco explained.

"Is that true?" Snape asked Illy.

"You know…She kind of looks like she bruises the same as me." Illy said absentmindedly. Snape snapped his fingers to make the picture go black.

"Can we focus?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah…what Draco said." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"How long did the vision take in reality?" Snape asked Draco.

"A good minute maybe…"

"And how long did you see it for Ike?"

"Right around three minutes" She answered as she set the frame down again.

"I'll talk to Dumbledore, you two have Hogsmeade tomorrow, get some sleep." Snape instructed before dismissing both Illy and Draco from his office and sending them in the direction of the dorms.

"Are you going with us today?" Christian and Dolan asked Illy excitedly as she came out of Jackquinn's room.

"Promised I'd go with Harry and the twins." She explained.

"You went with the twins last time." Christian said crossly.

"Mostly I'm going with Harry."

"He doesn't even have permission to be there!" Dolan countered.

"Look, I don't know how he gets there, but he does, so what do I care?"

"Fine, but we're calling your birthday weekend." Christian decided.

"And I'm coming too." Jackquinn said suddenly from behind. Illy turned around to face him,

"Good morning Jacky, sleep well last night?" She asked mischievously. Illy averted her glance from the currently shirtless Jackquinn just long enough to notice the horrified look on Dolan's face as he swept his hand across his neck in an "cut it out" symbol, as an attempt to get her to shut up.

"I was sleeping fine until you came in with your little brat friends at two o'clock in the morning." He complained with a roll of his eyes.

"You needed to apologize to Ron. The Weasley's can single handedly beat my Slytherin friend's in numbers, so it's best if you're on good terms with them."

"I'm still not apologizing to that piece of shit boyfriend of yours." He said determinedly.

"Fine, I can live with that." Illy decided. "But in all reality I'll probably end up ditching Harry later today, so keep Draco with the three of you and I'll just tell him when I can meet up with you."

"Is he going to freak out and go on some vendetta to get us all expelled or anything?" Dolan asked with feigned and real seriousness.

"If he does it'll probably be on kidnapping charges and he'll need my testimony for it, so you'll be fine for now." Illy informed with a sweet smile. "And now, I vote we go to breakfast because Draco is dragging his ass making himself pretty." She suggested as she led the group towards the door.

"Actually…He's probably pretty tired from last night." Christian spoke up.

"What was he doing last night," Illy asked, without thinking about it too much. "Having makeup sex with Pansy?"

"We were sort of hoping you might know." Dolan sheepishly started.

"He's been out every night for the last two weeks." Christian explained.

"And he doesn't get back in until three or four in the morning." Dolan continued. Illy was quiet, racking her mind with explanations as to what on earth Draco could be doing from eleven or twelve o'clock at night until four AM.

"I really have no clue guys…we weren't really talking until yesterday." She finally said.

"Can't you just ask him?" Christian urged.

"He tells me virtually everything, so if he hasn't mentioned it yet, the chances are, he's not going to tell me if I ask."

"But you said yourself that you haven't been talking for the last two weeks." Jackquinn interjected.

"I can give it a shot." She agreed as the group approached the breakfast table.

"Good, because he's coming in the door now." Christian pointed out.

Draco smiled groggily at Illy and pushed his hair out of his face, drawing attention to the fact that it was totally unbrushed so far.

"Draco, your hair is a mess." Illy said as she too smiled and started to try and help him get some of the straggling pieces out of his eyes.

"When I came down you guys were already gone, so I ran to catch up." He explained as he motioned towards the black pajama pants he still had on.

"Jacky didn't even remember to put a shirt on until we were almost out of the dungeons." Dolan said with a roll of his eyes.

"I actually threw mine on just before I got in the door." Draco said as he stifled a yawn.

"That's something I wouldn't mind seeing." Jacky whispered in Illy's ear. She laughed lightly as she started on an English muffin.

"So love, what's on the agenda for today?" Draco asked.

"She's spending the day with Harry." Dolan answered before she could.

"Actually, I'm probably going to ditch him after a while. I'll write you when I get a chance and we can meet up then." She corrected.

"So what, we're just supposed to hang out and have a little lonely sausage fest until it suits you?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Not too lonely, I'm bringing Pansy." Christian said with a big smirk on his face.

"Fuck that, I'm not spending my day with the wench." Dolan exclaimed.

"I feel the same." Jacky affirmed.

"Sorry but if I want to spend my day off with a whore I'll pay one." Illy said dryly. Everyone turned to look at Draco who was now silent.

"What? I can't be much meaner than that. She's just going to spend the afternoon trying to make me jealous, so no." He finally said.

"We put up with her when you were the one she was screwing." Christian said bitterly.

"Yeah, but Draco didn't actually like her, he just used her. It was a different relationship." Dolan explained.

"Exactly. She's different around me, I promise, she's not irritating at all. I mean, she still mean and all, but that's just Pansy."

"We're only taking Pansy if you want me to bring Cho." Draco proposed.

"You're with Cho Chang now?" Illy asked in confusion.

"And in that case I'll invite Claire." Jacky said with a shrug.

"You're with Claire? Since when?" Dolan asked, sounding obviously hurt.

"I'm not 'with' her, but if everyone else is going to have a date I'm not going alone. And if Draco gets to bring a Ravenclaw I'm taking a Hufflepuff." He said matter-of-factly.

"But then I'll be alone!" Dolan said in an outrage.

"Ok, ok, how about this, Christian, you take Pansy, Draco you take Cho, Jacky you take Claire, I'll take Harry, Dolan you can take Hermione, Fred can invite Magda, George can invite Christiana since it's a weekend and all, and that will take care of it." Illy decided with a grin.

"What about Ron?" Dolan asked flatly, clearly not happy about his date.

"Oh…shit…we'll just have him take Matty…or something." Illy mumbled.

"There's no way she's going to say yes." Dolan pushed.

"She will if I tell her it'll mean she can spend the day with me." Illy said with a devious smile.

"Fine, but this is going to take some doing…and who the fuck are Magda and Christina?" Dolan asked.

"Magda is a friend who lives in Hogsmeade and Christina is from America, but her Dad works here so he'll let her come." She explained.

"Now, Draco come help me organize all this shit." She said as she pulled him from his seat.

"Why do I have to help?" He asked.

"Because Jacky is sick of being my bitch in your absence." She explained.

"That I am." He said with a wink.

"We need to talk to the twins first, their dates will be the most irritating, then we'll get Ron and Herm…actually you go talk to the twins, since you met Christina and all." Illy suggested as they walked towards the Gryffindor table.

"Nice pants Malfoy." Harry teased as the pair approached.

"Nice scar Potter." Draco countered.

"Bloody hell, we haven't even made it through breakfast." Hermione complained.

"Just go talk to Fred and George." Illy directed.

"Of course." Draco said with a wink in Illy's direction, just to upset Harry further.

"Ignore him Harry." Ron told his friend.

"Ok, so here's the plan," Illy began as she took a seat. "We're going to all spend the day together, Jacky, Christian, Draco, and myself already have dates, Harry is obviously going with me, and Fred and George are being sorted out the moment, but that's where the two of you come into play." Illy said, directing her gaze towards Ron and Hermione, who both looked towards the ground and started to turn red.

"Stop blushing and listen; Hermione, Dolan wants to go with you, and Ron, Matty Melrose wants to go with you."

"But everyone knows she's loose." Hermione said in a condescending tone.

"I'm fine with that." Ron agreed with a smile. "Do I have to ask her, or can we just meet up in Hogsmeade?"

"You don't have to ask her, I'll take care of it."

"But Dolan is a complete pervert, so Hermione needs a new date." Ron asserted confidently.

"On the contrary _Ron_, I would be happy to go with Dolan, and since Ron doesn't seem to care about his own date's moral values he can keep his trap shut." Hermione said harshly.

"I was just trying to protect you from having some creep try to get a feel." Ron defended himself.

"He'll do no such thing, I happen to think that Mr. Cook is a real gentleman." Hermione defended.

"I don't think I'd go that far, but whatever, as long as that's worked out, I'm going to go talk to Matty." Illy dismissed.

"We're in." Fred and George told Illy as they walked by. "We're running up to send Magda an owl, and we're going to steal some of your floo powder to talk to Christina." Fred called over his shoulder.

"It's underneath the white cardigan." She called back.

"What the fuck it a cardigan?" She could here George asking.

"It's like a sweater moron." Fred responded.

"Do you mean the one I bought you?" Draco inquired.

"He bought you more than just that dress?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I should really go talk to Matty, come on Draco. I'll see you in an hour or so Harry." She said just before turning and heading back towards her own table.

Illy grabbed a navy blue button up sweater to take with her in case the wind picked up before stopping briefly in front of the mirror to go over her appearance. Dark Khaki pants, white cotton scoop neck, and dark blue ballet flats, all compliments of Draco.

"You ready to go?" Draco asked, startling her with his sudden presence.

"Yeah, sorry I took so long." She apologized as she pulled her straightened hair into a pony-tail.

"Who says you took a long time? I was just checking on you."

"You need to learn to knock." She said as they made their way towards the common room.

"What's the fun in that?"

"I could have been changing."

"It wouldn't be the first time I saw you taking your clothes off." He said with a wink.

"And like always I would be scrambling to put them back on." She countered.

"You ruin all my fun."

"I thought I created all your fun…but then again I don't consider prostitution fun, so our definitions may be a little bit off."

"Tell you what, we'll hang back today and I'll help you get an idea of what I think fun is."

"You're not going to act like this while I'm with Harry today are you?" She asked as they made their way through the door and started towards the entrance hall of the school.

"That depends; will you be taking your clothes off?"

"I wasn't planning on it." She responded dryly.

"Well then, I guess not. But I still call for a rethinking of the plan."

"I'm sure Harry would as well."

"In that case, I like the plan, let's make it general policy."

"Shit, it's still wet." She complained as they started across the lawn towards their gargantuan party was waiting.

"And a bit cold, do you want my jacket?" Draco offered. "I can give it to you now before it causes problems." He suggested.

"I brought the blue one you bought me." She said as she slipped the sweater on. "Hermione!" She called as she waved to the brunette.

"Illy, I'm really not sure that most of the shops can handle a crowd this large." She said in a genuinely concerned voice.

"Nonsense. Now, how is Dolan behaving?"

"Actually, he's being really nice. It's driving Ron mad." She told Illy with a roll of her eyes.

"Well everyone seems like a nice person in comparison to Claire." Dolan explained.

"Stop being mean to her." Jacky interrupted.

"I'm not, she's just a snob. Which isn't surprising."

"Now I'm curious to see where this is heading, is it unsurprising because she's French, or because she's with me."

"Both."

"That's it. Illy, make him stop!" Jacky begged.

"Both of you cut it out. In all honesty Claire is a bit of a bitch Jacky, and just so you know Christian is trying to get in her pants because Pansy's not here yet," Illy started. Jacky immediately ran to rescue his date with an, "oh, shit." "And you, stop being so jealous." Illy finished in a half whisper. "Now, let's get moving, I'm sick of waiting for Pansy."

"Cho's here, so I'm ready." Draco said.

"Christina is going to meet us at the apothecary on Bailey, she needs some supplies, as long as you don't mind going there first." George informed.

"And Magda is waiting for us down by the gate." Fred continued.

"Matty's talking with Claire." Ron finished with a small groan.

"Ok, so let's just head for the apothecary, Harry should be getting in by now." informed as she started to guide the group towards the gate, noting that they were catching stares left and right from students shocked by the intermingled mob passing them by.

"If we're all going to try and eat together we're going to need reservations or something." Hermione told Illy.

"Yeah, guess so. I'll have Magda take care of it. Hey Fred!" She called towards the front of the group. Fred dropped to the back of the mob with Hermione and Killious just as the group approached the gate.

"What can I do?"

"We need Magda to tell us where we can get a table to seat this many people for lunch."

"Shite….this is a lot of bloody people I guess." He responded.

"Do we even want to attempt it, or should we just go ahead and let go of this group theory?" Hermione questioned.

"I can ask Mags, but my guess is sooner or later we're going to get separated anyway." Fred confessed.

"Should we set up a meeting place?" Hermione suggested.

"Why bother, we all know how it's going to go." Fred said with a half hearted shrug.

"I don't know how it's going to go." Illy interjected with some irritation at her plans falling apart before the day was even underway.

"You just haven't grasped the amount of segregation there is between houses yet." Fred explained.

"We're all doing fine right now aren't we?" Illy asked.

"Illy we're doing fine now, but pretty soon someone will start fighting and it'll just be a mess." Hermione said sympathetically.

"Almost everyone here is a good friend of mine, and so far none of them are fighting about house issues. Christian is flirting with everyone's date, Dolan is jealous, Ron's complaining already, Claire is being a snob, George is throwing snowballs and Pansy is late, but none of that has to do with houses. It's just the people they are, no one but us is even thinking about where they belong at school, they're just having fun. All this crap about what house you're in is almost as bad as worrying about your blood. Who cares anyway? None of my Slytherin friends give a shit what house your in, and if it's the 'courageous' kids who are going to start a fight just because they're not used to something you can all just go fuck yourselves, but we're not starting anything." Illy said heatedly.

"We're not going to start anything, but I wouldn't put it past Draco. You heard what he called Hermione the other day." Fred reminded her.

"Why does everyone think Draco is going to start shit? Look, he only said that to Hermione to piss Harry off, and he even apologized. He can be an ass, but none of it is personal, you have to realize that he says whatever he thinks will upset you most, regardless of what it is. His family didn't exactly teach him that there's any option other than winning whatever fight he's in. Harry would be more likely to mean something like that than Draco." She defended.

"I'm wif Killy'us." Magda said brightly.

"Magda!" Illy and Fred said in unison, before taking turns giving her a hug.

"Mags, this is Hermione, she's one of little Ronny's friends." Fred introduced.

"Nice eh meet ya." She said with a warm smile.

"You too." Hermione replied shyly.

"Where's Dolan? Shouldn't he be back here making Ron jealous?" Illy asked suddenly with a mischievous grin.

"She's as bah as me." Magda said with a wink at Fred.

"She pulls the kiss on the cheek trick too." Fred told her.

"Tha' boy gets cher'y red dun he?"

"It's even worse in public." Illy told her. "Dolan, your date is lonely." Illy called to Dolan who was talking in a hushed voice to Jackquinn up ahead.

"Sorry Hermione." Dolan apologized once he was back by her side. "I'll make it up from here on out." He said sweetly before taking her hand in his own and starting up a conversation.

"So, where is Harry?" Fred asked as he put an arm around Magda's shoulder.

"He should be here by now…" She mumbled.

"Do you want to just meet us at Bailey?" Fred offered.

"I guess so. I'm gonna go check Honeyduke's, maybe he just needs someone to make a scene so that he can get out of the basement."

"Ok, I'll just tell everyone we'll meet you there."

"West Bailey Apothecary right?"

"Yeah, just past the antique book store."

"Ok, I'll go fast." She assured Fred and Magda before turning back and jogging towards the treat shop.

Illy was half way to the shop when she noticed Snape heading her way with a small grin on his face. "Shit" She breathed to herself when she realized that few things could make him smile quite like that.

"Are you having fun bringing together the houses for a student rally?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well I was, but you're smiling so I guess it's about to come to an end."

"It's not my fault that your boyfriend got caught trying to sneak into Hogsmeade without a signed permission slip." He said as she joined him on the other side of the street.

"Harry was trying to come?" She asked in a shocked voice.

"Don't play dumb."

"Fine…I told him how to get into Hogsmeade without using the front gate." She admitted. Snape's face stiffened. Illy only smiled to herself, her little lie was just enough to throw off Snape's plans for whatever sort of punishment he had pictured.

"You told him how to get here?" He asked gravely.

"I most certainly did." She said with a knowing smile.

"You're lying, he used that cloak of his fathers." Snape accused.

"I may be lying, but I doubt you can prove it."

"Ike, you've got to stop being on his side. He breaks the rules and he's going to get punished for it."

"I break the rules too. And for that matter, so do you. Hell, you help me break the rules every now and again. So what if his family won't sign? His parents are dead, have some mercy on the poor kid."

"Your parents are dead too, does that mean you should get away with everything?"

"I already get out of everything, but not everyone can talk their way out of problems like I can. He's had a tough year with the Sirius Black stuff just cut him some slack this once." She pleaded.

"If I give him a break now it's just going to make you think that you can do whatever you want."

"I'm not asking you to let him walk away entirely, just be nice. Lenient is the word really, but it would in fact be very nice, especially to me, if you could be lenient."

"I'm not going to help him out. I don't even like that you're seeing him, why would I put both of you in a better mood."

"Because you're the bigger person and you need to prove that you aren't exactly the kind of jackass he thinks you are. Harry isn't exactly keen on you, and I really think if you would just give it the tiniest shot you two could call a truce on the little war you've got going."

"I hope he can't stand me. It serves him right."

"Sins of the father syndrome? I really thought that you of all people could get over something like that."

"If he wasn't exactly like his father then maybe I could."

"He's not like his dad. He's a lot nicer. You don't see him bullying other kids do you? He's not jinxing kids left and right, or throwing their books on the ground, he's the underdog if anything."

"He's doing worse than that. He's bullying you, and he's jinxing you, and he's throwing you on the ground. I now it just like Draco does."

"Draco doesn't know anything. You have to stop thinking that he's so well informed."

"The point stands that he's just like James was."

"James was an ass, that's a given, but come on. If you can't let things with him go what hope is there for me huh? You even said that my dad was a totally hopeless, defenseless looser, and if I have my facts right Severus you weren't exactly Mr. Popular." While Illy spoke, Snape visibly began to look more depressed.

"I shouldn't have let you think that, that was all there was to your father…There was more to both of your parents than most people were aware of."

"Were you friends with them?" She asked. Snape chuckled lightly.

"You could put it that way. I wanted you be with your mum… Your dad, that idiot, spent most of his time at Hogwarts chasing after Lily Evans. They were from the same neighborhood and he almost lost it when she stopped being friends with him. He was close to your mum by then, but he was too scared of her to try and ask her out. So one day James was picking on him in the courtyard and your mom told James to leave her boyfriend alone, then she gave him a kiss, and they were inseparable. Simple as that."

"Who's side were they on? Were they Deatheaters or what?"

"We'll talk about it later. Go catch up to your friends."

"One day you'll see that people can be different than their parents." Illy promised as she gave him a quick goodbye and headed down Bailey Street. Snape stood still at the entrance to the ally-like street, watching her disappear around the corner with an expressionless stare.

"I sure hope your right Ike." He finally said before he turned around to head back to the castle and let Harry out of the four month detention he had been signed up for.

"Where's Harry?" Ron asked as Illy walked into the apothecary.

"Snape caught him, he's going to be stuck at the castle, but don't worry about it. Did Pansy arrive yet?"

"Yeah but she left when she saw that Draco had a date." Christian said in a small voice from his spot beside the door.

"If you ask nice I'll be your date." Illy offered with a grin.

"He doesn't need one, he stole my date." Draco told Illy as he walked over to Ron and Illy.

"Wow, he bested the brat." Illy teased.

"And Matty left with Pansy." Ron complained.

"Lovely, anyone else not show up?" Illy asked.

"Nope, Fred and George are set, Christina practically snogged George's tongue right out of his mouth when she showed up." Ron said dryly.

"Hermione and Dolan are doing fine, they're next door, and Jackquinn is helping Claire find some stuff she needs around the store to help with potions."

"Where is Cho?" Illy asked Christian.

"Looking at a new cauldron, but she's going to ask me to come help her decide in the back room in a minute." Christian answered with a wink.

"So it's just the three of us on our own." Ron said with a sigh.

"I'd choose the two of you over Pansy and Matty any day." Illy told them as soon as Christian had left for the backroom.

"Same." Draco admitted.

"Guess I can't fight with you there." Ron agreed.

"Let's go ask the owner to show us what cauldron's he had in back." Illy suggested with a wicked grin. Draco raised his hand into the air,

"Excuse me Sir, can you show me what you have in back?" He asked the owner.

"Or better yet, why don't we all just have a little look." Ron suggested to the old man who nodded heartily.

"It's so good to get all of this business." He told them. "Over this way everyone." He called out to the group as he pulled open the door to the back room. Cho shrieked. Christian grinned and started to wipe the lip-gloss off of his face. Everyone else was in hysterics, except Christina who led George towards the door at the first chance she got to play copycat, which made everyone laugh even harder, including the shop owner.

"I'll make sure I drop by this summer if I can." Illy told Magda as she turned to drop everyone at the front gate as dusk.

"The boys'd 'preciate et I'm sure." She told her.

"I'll be back in thirty minutes with George." Fred promised. "We'll just walk Magda home and drop Christina off."

"Don't get in trouble you two." Hermione warned.

"Who? Us?" They asked innocently before they departed.

"I told you it'd be fine." Illy said to Ron.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't so bad; Even if your friend Dolan is a jerk." He admitted.

"Dolan is a perfect gentleman; I don't know how he doesn't have a girlfriend." Hermione objected. Illy just shook her head and kept walking silently towards the castle.

"And let's not forget that I was good." Draco said triumphantly.

"You managed to pin the whole restaurant tab on Lupin just because he ran into us. I wouldn't call that could." Hermione scolded.

"I would call if bloody perfect." Ron said with a smile.

"And besides, it was mine and Jacky's idea; Draco was just the only one the waitress would believe looked a thing like Lupin's kid." Illy informed.

"I have to admit that Jackquinn's not that bad." Ron said with a small grin.

"I don't really look like Lupin do I?" Draco asked in sudden distress.

"Of course not. You're much better looking, I promise." Illy assured him. "Well, I'll see you guys in the morning, I'm going to finish up my homework." She told Ron and Hermione as the split for the stairs or the dungeon approached. "Tell Harry I'm really sorry he didn't make it."

"We will." Hermione promised.

"Tell Potter I hope that he trips and breaks his face." Draco said equally as cheery as Illy.

"He'll probably slip on all those milk duds you're having Hedwig deliver." Ron laughed.

"You're sending him candy?" Illy asked with a smirk.

"They spit chocolate at you, and so Draco sent him this huge bag of them. They're going to get dropped on him by a bunch of owls in the morning." Ron said with a proud smile.

"I take it you thought this up?" Hermione asked Ron in a harsh tone.

"He needs a little something to cheer him up. And you know, Lupin says nothing cheers you up more than chocolate." Ron defended himself.

"And I'm supposedly his son, so how can we go wrong?" Draco laughed. Illy just shook her head as Hermione continued to scold Ron all the way up the stairs.

"So when are those two going to admit they're in love?" Draco asked Illy as they made their way past Snape's classroom and towards the common room.

"Not sure, but their kids will have some crazy fucking hair." Illy replied with a laugh.

"When are you going to ask Snape about your parents?"

"I'm not sure I want the answer to my question. I have a feeling that whatever he says isn't going to be what I want to hear, so why ask?"

"Still…it's got to be important to you."

"How important is it to you?"

"Ok, I get your point. But still, your parents weren't necessarily bad people."

"There's no way to know that other than to ask. And if you had the choice of not knowing about the things your father has done, what would you do?"

"You're not nearly fucked up enough to have a dad like mine." Draco mumbled angrily.

"Neither are you." She half whispered in response. Draco stopped in the hall and turned to face her.

"Thanks." He whispered in her ear as he pulled her to his chest. "You have no idea how much that means."

"Draco…"

"Yeah?"

"Where have you been going at night?" She inquired softly. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you promise that you won't get mad or anything?"

"I promise."

"I've been trying to find out where she went. I have dreams about her too, but not like yours. She just keeps showing up, barely out of my line of vision, or in dark corners, and I always try to catch her, but she's too fast." He explained as he released her and they continued into the common room.

"So where exactly have you been hunting for clues?"

"I've broken into the library to look up old records once or twice, but mostly I've been trying to get into Snape's office. When I was in there the other day I saw an envelope on the desk labeled 'personal' and I think he might have something in there."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe he knows where she's buried, maybe he's kept in contact with her, or something." He shrugged, sank into a spot on the sofa, and motioned for Killious to have a seat.

"Do you think we could get your dad to take us up to the ministry with him one day over the summer?" She asked as she sat on the opposite side of the sofa so that he could lay down and put his head in her lap while they talked.

"I doubt it. But maybe we could find another way in. Do you think they'd have something?"

"I don't see how they couldn't. She'd be on file if she died, or if her parents ever tried to find her. Have you found anything useful in the library?" Illy questioned quietly as she began to play with Draco's soft white-blond hair.

"Not really, just something about my Dad being a Deatheater who got into a bit of trouble for trafficking muggleborn's, and then I just found a few books on some famous wizards and witches with telepathic abilities and such. Maybe you should take up lessons with Lupin. They couldn't be all that bad you know…and I'd come with you if you wanted."

"I guess I'll talk to him about it. But Trelawney can get fucked."

"Fine with me."

"Severus told me that when my mom met her she called her a paranoid imbecile."

"Hit the nail on the head." He said with a grin.

"My mum was an ESP officer…one of the best they ever had apparently." She told him while she softly scratched his scalp.

"I'll look her up."

"I don't know how. Snape won't give me her name, and he's the only one who knows."

"Why won't he just tell you her name?"

"He says that digging up the past isn't worth the pain, and that I should just know she was a good person, and that she would be proud of me."

"That liar."

"What, you think it's worth it?"

"No, actually I was thinking there's no way in hell your mom would be proud of your skank ass." He said before laughing. Illy stopped running her fingers over his head.

"I think she'd be more ashamed of the fact that I'm friends with a cock-up like you."

"She would be too smitten by my beauty to say a word against me."

"She wasn't blind you fucknuckle."

"Just shut up and keep playing with my hair." He said in his best snobby brat voice.

"Do you remember that one day at the beginning of the school year when I was playing with your hair and you freaked out and told me to stop?" She asked as she resumed her previous practice.

"I didn't freak out." He objected defensively.

"You acted like I was going to give you herpes just by touching you."

"Oh…that kind of freak out…well then I definitely didn't freak out." He muttered while she started to braid a little bit of his long bangs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked. Draco's cheeks started to turn a light pink shade. "Wait, you mean you weren't disgusted, you were just enjoying yourself and got embarrassed?"

"Pretty much. Stop braiding my hair." He complained.

"You're such a little snot." Illy told him while she undid the braids.

"Why does that make me a snot?" Draco whined. Illy rolled her eyes and slowly combed her fingers his hair one section at a time.

"Because I was certain that you never wanted me to touch you again, and really-"

"Really I was debating getting you drunk that night and taking you up to my room." He cut her off.

"That's fucked up." She told him with a giggle.

"That's why I didn't do it!" He shouted indignantly.

"Still…that's not a good place for your head to go first."

"What would you have suggested?"

"Send chocolates and flowers."

"You don't even like flowers." He reminded her sharply.

"Alright then, send chocolates and books." She suggested.

"That might have been a better plan." He admitted.

"Just maybe." She said sarcastically.

"So let me give this a try, if I promise you bring you chocolate in the morning, and I buy you a library, do you want to come sleep in my bed tonight?"

"Sure."

"What? Really?" He asked her in surprise as he sat up from her lap.

"Yeah, shake on it." She suggested.

"Deal!" Draco said excitedly as he shook her hand.

"Let me just go get pajamas and a change of clothes for the morning." She told him as she got up from the sofa. Draco spent the next five minutes staring at the entrance to the girl's dorm in disbelief, until Illy re-emerged with clothing and makeup bag in hand.

"Will it make you uncomfortable if I wear this?" She asked, pointing to her white girl's boxers with blue horseshoe prints and thin green t-shirt.

"You don't match, but it's not like it'll be on that long." He said with a shrug.

"Actually Mr. Malfoy, you agreed that we would sleeping in your bed, so these in fact will be on, as long we don't get hit by a heat wave." She told him as they made their way to his bed. It took Draco a moment before he realized what she said.

"Bloody fuck…you got my hopes up." He told her with a sideways smile. He really couldn't be disappointed though, he had known that she would find some way of getting his hopes up and crushing them, like she always did.

"Sorry." She apologized before she climbed into his bed. "On the plus side, you have really great sheets." She told him. Draco just grunted and slipped his pants, shoes, socks, and shirt off, before he slipped into the bed himself clad in nothing but boxers.

"I'm really not getting my money's worth." He whispered as he pulled her body to his and wrapped an arm around it.

"Ewww, are you sleeping in the same boxers you spent the whole day in?" She asked obnoxiously.

"Oh shut the hell up before I wake Christian up and let him rape you." Draco sneered. Illy giggled and rolled over, so that she could push Draco onto his back and rest her head on his chest.

"Do you mind." She murmured.

"Not in the least." He promised as he put both arms around her now and turned his face so that he could burry his nose in her hair.

"Goodnight Draco Malfoy."

"Goodnight Killious Quintessence."

1 Illy's second immediately fulfilled prophecy (Harry's fight with her under the tree being the first)


	40. 39 The dog ate my bodice

"Killy, it's like five AM, do you want to go for a run?" Draco asked the lightly slumbering girl who was still lying on his bare chest. She blinked twice as her sleepy eyes adjusted to the sight of him before she put her head back down and went to sleep again. "I'm going to take that as a 'no'" He told her. Killious rolled over on her side, abandoning Draco's alabaster chest for his silk sheets and soft pillows.

"This is the first non-medicated dreamless sleep I've had in months." She mumbled, "I'm going to take advantage." She finished.

"These are the benefits of my bed." He told her slyly as slid down into the bed next to her, snaking an arm over her waste and fitting his body to hers.

"I just thought of something disgusting." She whispered in a half giggle.

"Dare I ask?"

"Have these been washed since the last time you and Pansy screwed on here?" She asked.

"Actually the last girl in this bed with me was a certain Hufflepuff named Tiffany, cute little red head with green eyes and freckles."

"Ughh, you're such a man whore." She moaned with a half smile. "Tell me about her." She demanded as she rolled over to look at him. He smiled and pushed his forehead to hers.

"Well, her parents own a department store in London, and she's failing History and Herbology. She's scared of Care of Magical Creatures, is just passing potions, makes a good grade in Trelawney's class, and she's acing D.A.D.A. because she thinks Lupin is cute."

"I'm impressed, I didn't realize that you actually paid attention to the bimbos you fucked silly."

"Her favorite color is aqua-marine, she was born in June, she has two tabby cats, her boyfriend is Oliver Henderson, they haven't had sex yet, but she sees a boy who works for her father over summer break and all they do is fuck like rabbits." He informed with a little grin.

"What a deep personality analysis." Illy joked.

"Personality wise she's about as deep as a glass of water, she doesn't get half the jokes I make, she's snobby and easily flattered, self conscious, usually confused, and she likes to think that she's mysterious."

"And how pissed would she be if she knew I was here right now?"

"I really don't care, she wasn't worth a second go, and she felt guilty for cheating on dear Oliver, so it's over and done with. The sheets were sent off the next morning."

"Good to know, because otherwise I might throw up…though I would rather lay in Tiffany's filth than Pansy's."

"I would rather lay in your filth."

"Who says I have filth? I'm a very clean person, I even got changed into clean pajamas last night remember?"

"In that case I shall take it upon myself to help you create filth." He said as he started to reach for her shirt. Illy slapped his hand away and snuggled back into his chest.

"I'm too tired to do more than that to defend myself, don't molest me while I sleep." She instructed before yawning and closing her eyes.

"I promise to wait until you wake up again."

At two PM on Sunday afternoon Illy woke up in Draco's bed, still wrapped in Draco's arms, though he had been awake since ten.

"How long have you been up for?" She asked groggily.

"Only a few minutes"

"Liar"

"I got you chocolate, just like I promised." He said as he reached for the small box of truffles on the night stand that he had convinced Dolan to track down for him.

"Leave it to you to get something imported." Illy remarked sarcastically.

"I bought them off a fifth year. He was sent them from Switzerland."

"Second hand imports, that's the best kind you know." She teased before selecting one of the pieces and biting it in half. "Is Harry banging down the door yet?" She asked as she fed him the other half of the chocolate.

"Not that I know of, I think he's freaking out because there's been another Black sighting or something. But even if he did, it wouldn't matter; we're just enjoying a friendly lay about."

"What friends don't spend the night together talking about ex-sex partners?"

"That was actually this morning."

"Whatever"

"I know for a fact that Jackquinn and Dolan do the same thing all the time." He told her confidently. She laughed softly and started to sit up. "Are you going to go find him?"

"I was thinking about it. He's probably not very happy with me at the moment."

"It's not your fault that he got in trouble, and it's certainly not your fault that Black is on the loose." He told her as he pushed the hair from her face.

"I'm sure he's convinced that you told Snape about his sneaking into Hogsmeade, and he's never in a good mood when Black is involved. With the whole 'he killed my parents' thing and all, it sort of upsets him usually." She told Draco.

"On the plus side, I think we're in the clear as far as his being informed about where you spent the night. Christian never showed up, Dolan was with Jacky, Blaize, Crabbe, and Goyle are my bitches, and Theodore Nott has a little crush on you, so we're in the clear." He said cheerily.

"Good to know. Well, I guess I should head back to my room and go get dressed." She sighed before getting out of bed and collecting her things from the floor.

"Why bring your clothes and makeup bag if you were just going to head back to your dorm?"

"I guess I had some image of having to put on fresh clothing so that no one realized we had dirty hot sex in your bed until the wee hours of the morning in my mind."

"You could have told me that." Draco said as he threw a t-shirt at her playfully.

"I'm just kidding. I actually brought them in case it got cold; it's just a pair of flannels. And the makeup bag just has a sleeping potion and a few other things like that in it." She confessed as she held up the grey and pink set.

"Those are hideous."

"So is your face." She taunted before leaving.

As Illy approached the door to her room she could hear scraping and shuffling noises inside, her pace slowed as she eased her way up the stairs cautiously, listening for anything else that sounded violent or shocking. A smash of glass and the thud of wood on the floor sent her into a run; it had to be Pansy or Matty, or both. It could have even been Harry who was throwing things around, but whoever it was she wasn't going to let them get away. Her wand was out in a second as she sprinted the rest of the way up the stone steps barefoot. She flung the door open and put her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming.

The black dog was large enough to knock her to the ground with ease, but she had a hope that it hadn't seen her just yet, maybe if she was still and quiet she could get away unscathed. She shakily started to move her foot backwards, but before she had the chance to take a single step the dog had turned on her, withdrawing its nose from her trunk, Harry's silver charm bracelet in its jaws. Suddenly Illy was standing tall again, wand pointing towards the dog,

"_Expelaramus!"_ She shouted out the spell before she could think of anything else, and the bracelet flew into the air, before landing on her bed. She could see the look in the animal's eye right away, she knew that glint.

"I know you're an Anamagai, now show yourself!" She demanded. The dog turned its head to the side as if it were confused, before it bared its teeth and started lumbering towards her.

"_Immobulus!" _She shouted, stopping the dog in its tracks.

"I'll scream and my best friend will be here in an instant unless you can cooperate. I believe that you are the criminal Sirius Black and I want to give you a chance to explain yourself, so we can do this the nice way, or I can use a Sectumsempra and cut your fucking head off." She told the dog with steady words.

"I'm going to release you when I'm done speaking, if you reveal yourself then, I won't kill you, otherwise I've had plenty of practice at killing dumb animals." Illy swallowed and removed the jinx on the animal, careful to leave her wand pointed at it, and her mouth ready to utter its death. The dog changed almost instantly into a man with sallow skin and wild hair. His eyes wide with crazed anger and curiosity.

"Who are you?" She asked finally, when he stood still for her.

"You already said it."

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Are you Harry's girlfriend?"

"Yes. Now please answer my question."

"I was looking for ways to get Harry's attention. I need to speak to him. I didn't kill his parents or any of those muggles."

"I assumed as much. I didn't make any sense that you would suddenly betray your friends, or that you would still be under a curse after Voldemort fell long enough to kill that shit load of muggles."

"Harry has his father's taste in women, you're very smart." Sirius told her in a voice that sent chills up and down her spine.

"James was a prick so that's really not much of a compliment."

"Have you no respect for the dead?"

"James and his stupid friends, yourself included, don't require respect in my book. And besides, you don't even have respect for the living; you've torn through more than five hundred galleons worth of designer lingerie." She snapped. "Now how are you planning to get a hold of Harry?"

"You were my latest plan, I figured I'd leave a ransom note and the bracelet for him to find tomorrow morning and then I would meet him."

"Right, and what if we were with each other at that time dumbass?"

"I guess I didn't think of that…"

"Great, now I've got to help a total cock-up of a criminal tell his best friends' kid that he in fact did not help murder his parents. I take it a tearful reunion is to ensue as well?" She asked sarcastically.

"I don't need your help." He snarled.

"Keep the foam in your mouth Kujo; you're going to want my help I promise. You were friends with Lupin right?"

"Moony! Yes, we were friends." He said, suddenly sounding almost happy.

"I'll tell him we met. One of Harry's teachers' pet is getting executed; it would be a good chance to get a hold of Harry. I'll help convince him to try and save the thing, and you just meet us out by the edge of the woods."

"I can do that…What did you say your name was?"

"Killious Enquirous, good to meet you." Illy said as she walked forward and shook hands with the man. His eyes lingered on her body all the while she approached and even as he shook her hand forcefully. She stepped back and fought the urge to shiver under the weight of the goosebumps all over her body.

"How can we stay in contact?" He asked her.

"If you want to talk to me write on this." She told him as she picked up her now partly broken piece of slate. She handed him a small broken corner piece. "Thanks for breaking my shit. Write small."

"Sorry." He apologized, suddenly casting his gaze to the floor.

"It's fine. I was worried you were another girl, I was going to have to beat the bloody fuck out of your skank ass."

"You curse a lot more than I expected."

"Harry doesn't exactly get the full dose of Illy when we're together." She dismissed.

"That's a shame. You're a colorful person."

"You have no idea, but you do need to get out of here soon." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'd say I have some idea…I'm sorry about how I treated your dad…James and I…we didn't mean to make him go that way…"

"What?" She asked, but before she got her answer the man was a dog again and he was heading down the stairs in a rush.

"Killy!" Draco shouted, as he emerged from the doorway moment later. "Are you okay?"

"I see you caught a glimpse of Sirius."

"What?"

"He's an Animagai…I'm fine Draco, he's was a creeper, but he didn't hurt me or anything, he just broke all my stuff and tore holes in half my clothing."

"I'll get Snape." He said as he started to turn around. Illy caught his wrist,

"Don't bother, he's not going to hurt anyone…and I think he knew my dad." She told him as she stared off into space. Draco considered leaving to get Snape anyway, but decided against leaving her with that kind of blank stare on her face, she might have left the country by the time he got back. He had learned over the last months that anytime she was thinking too hard to pay attention to what was going on around her, it could easily be followed up by an action of drastic, and even stupid measures.

"Your real dad?" He finally asked.

"Yeah, just before he left he apologized for how he and James used to treat him, and he said he didn't mean to make him go 'that way'" She relayed with little emotion. Her mind was swimming with the possibility of finding out who her father was, through Sirius. She was half way though plotting out a way to catch up with the dog when Draco spoke up.

"Speaking of parents, maybe you should go talk to Snape about your parents today."

"Why ruin such a lovely Sunday?" She asked with a shrug. "Now, help me find some clothing that aren't torn to bits." She instructed while she began picking through the remains of her wardrobe herself.

"Nice skivs." Draco taunted as he held up a soft yellow toned pair of bikini underwear, the white ribbons that made up their sides had been ripped in half.

"These ones are even better." She told him as she held up a red thong, which was now nothing more than a limp strip of fabric, void of any shape.

"Here are _my_ jeans, totally ruined of course." Draco said with a roll of his eyes.

"Those will work; they were already torn to bits." She told him as she took the pants from him.

"You might want these too." He offered as he handed over a pair of panties. "Black boyshorts with baby blue ruffles…where do you get these things?" He asked with a chuckle.

"From very expensive French lingerie stores, and now they're ruined. Turn around so I can change." She commanded. Draco smiled and continued to pick through the ruined clothing all over the floor, tossing things into piles of ruined and safe. Illy scooped a black Queen t-shirt off the floor and pulled it one before turning to Draco.

"Damage report." She requested. He sighed before he began listing off clothing,

"He took out both of your striped sleeveless shirts, two cashmere sweaters, your winter coat, three cardigans, your skinny jeans, some other pair of jeans," He stopped long enough to hold up the pieces to something linen and white and try to figure out what they were, "your white pants," He finally decided, "your khakis, both of your long skirts, your denim mini, grey running shorts, both high-wasted shorts we bought the other day, that ugly white cocktail dress," He continued as he held up a short haltered white dress, "your long blue dress, your pink mobster's girlfriend dress," He said with a snicker as he tossed aside the once skin tight, obscenely short, square neck item, "both sun dresses, my black shirt, your dark brown sweater, your red polka dot hooker top" The shirt she had changed out of before the first time she met Magda was tossed into the dead clothing pile "and the baby blue one with white lace too…and all of your tank tops except a purple one, a black one, a white one, and a grey one, and two scarves." Draco listed off as he picked up the articles of clothing the got them ready to be disposed of.

"Fuck, he chewed through my high-tops, every pair of silk stocking I own, three swimsuits, and all my heels too!" Illy screamed as she added ten pairs of shoes and a jumble of clothing to the pile.

"Well, on the down side, you can't work the street corner anymore." Draco teased.

"Yeah, and I only have two bras and four pairs of underwear intact."

"But that means we get to go shopping again." He finished with a smile.

"Thanks but I'll survive until this summer. I think that I can live with five pack knickers." She said as she started to stuff the clothing back into her trunk, carefully folding the whole articles, while she threw the rest in carelessly.

"What are you going to do with all the stuff that got ruined?"

"I don't know yet, but I can't exactly just walk to the nearest trash can with this much stuff. With everyone looking for Sirius I think I might get interrogated for my suspicious behavior." Illy explained as she began to pick up the glass from several of her shattered potions.

"I guess we can just get rid of it at my house." He told her while he mopped up the mess of liquid all over the floor with a ruined sweater.

"That fucking bastard is a lot more trouble than he's worth if you ask me." Draco jeered as the two made their way towards the library, books in hand. Illy found an empty table near the marked off section and settled in to start on her herbology reports. Her plant was in its third week and she had only put down one line entries in her log book so far, which wasn't making Madam Sprout very happy.

"Have you gone over your star charts?" Draco asked Illy as soon as he sat down across from her.

"I don't have divination." She reminded him without taking her eyes from the book in front of her. Draco sighed and began on his work, copying down the names of the planets, then moons, then stars, then comets, then asteroid belts and so on.

"What time is quidditch practice?" She asked him suddenly breaking the thirty minutes of silence that had fallen on the table.

"I think it starts right after dinner, but if you want we can skip the meal and head out." Draco offered.

"I'm thinking I might skip and spend the time in here. I have to get my grade in Sprouts class up, and I've been spending my free period running errands for Gringott's."

"You really do need to quit that stupid job; it's going to kill your grades if you keep it up."

"Why do you think I'm focused on the female teachers? I can't exactly flash them some thigh and expect my grade to go up can I?"

"Only Lupin would fall for that."

"Lupin and Flitwick actually, that dirty old man." She said with a wink.

"And you call me a man whore?"

"That's probably because you are." Ron's voice came from behind.

"Hey Ron." Illy and Draco said in unison, both of them leaving their eyes glued to the books in front of them.

"Killious, just so you know, Binns gave us an extension on the Troll expansionism paper." Hermione said sweetly.

"One less lap dance Illy!" Draco jeered.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Hermione inquired.

"He's not talking about anything." Illy snapped with a smiled. Draco chuckled, and returned to his work silently.

"Where's Harry?" Illy asked Hermione and Ron.

"He's on his way, he got held up by Snape." Hermione explained.

"I'm right here." Harry said out of breath. Illy looked up from her work for the first time to see Harry taking a seat by her.

"What happened?"

"Snape let me off the hook for a bunch of those detentions." Harry said with a bright smile. Illy gave him a small kiss on the cheek and started on her work again.

"I told you he's not all that bad." She said quietly.

"He's still a jerk, even if you managed to talk him out of acting like one." Harry pouted.

"Don't pout Harry, it's unbecoming." Illy scolded.

"Don't tell me what to do." Harry snapped.

"Oh please don't start again." Hermione begged.

"Start what?" Harry asked.

"Don't start fighting!" Ron, Draco, and Hermione all said at once.

"Calm down, I'm far too satiated to fight with him." Illy told them all serenely.

"What and I'm not calm?" Harry asked in irritation.

"Of course you're calm dear." Illy told him kindly. Harry smiled and laid his head on her shoulder.

"I missed you at breakfast and lunch." He murmured. Illy shot a knowing glance at Draco before replying,

"I was having a lay about." She responded finally. Draco visibly suppressed a laugh and did his best to keep his face down while he worked.

"Is that your star chart?" Ron asked Draco suddenly, as he had just noticed what the piece of paper the blond was working on was.

"Yes it is. Do you want to check yours against it?" Draco offered.

"Illy checks our charts." Harry said briefly.

"She doesn't even have the class." Draco reminded Harry.

"I know that. It doesn't make her any worse at divinations; in fact it proves she's better."

"Doesn't that seem like a lot of excessive work for your girlfriend?" Draco asked, his temper obviously rising.

"She doesn't mind doing it. And besides she has a free hour that none of us have during the day."

"She works during the day. She doesn't just have time to sit around and do your work." Draco replied, now breeching into ill-tempered anger.

"You know what Malfoy, why don't you just shut your mouth. She doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, so leave it!" Harry threatened.

"Fuck, I'm calm for once and the two of you go at it." Illy chided dryly.

"They fight all the time when you're not around." Ron told her.

"And they fight all the time when I am around, so I guess they just fight all the time in general."

"Worse than us I s'pose, ay Herm?" Ron teased. Hermione only narrowed her eyes and let out a "hmph" of disapproval.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't act like she has all the time in the world to do homework for you." Draco defended.

"Well she seems to have all the time in the world to sit around with you."

"We were both doing homework Potter!" Draco retorted incredulously as he started to pack up his bag. "You can look over this if you want." Draco told Ron as he handed him the rolled up chart and turned to leave. "I'll see you at practice in a few hours." He called over his shoulder bitterly to Illy as a goodbye.

The next afternoon Illy and Draco found themselves wandering into Lupin's classroom after much prompting from Snape during class. Draco had followed through with his promise and come along, though Snape's absence made him wonder if there was much point seeing as Lupin didn't really have any expertise or know Illy all that well. Still, it seemed better than trying to come up with some other excuse to get her away from Potter, he thought to himself. It also sounded better than thinking about the owl his parents had sent that morning, let alone explaining it to Illy. He sighed from his spot a step or two behind her and pushed the letter to the back of his mind. It made him feel uneasy just to let it slip into his conscious consideration while she was around.

"I slept all day Sunday and I was still fucking exhausted!" Illy complained to Lupin as she dropped her bag on his desk. Draco did the same and nodded to the teacher slightly before taking up the seat that Snape had been in the last time Illy had, had a private lesson with Lupin.

"So Moony, what are we starting with?" She asked Lupin as her lips curved into a smile.

"Where'd you hear that name from?" He asked her seriously.

"From a friend. He hasn't seen you in ages; we had a chat the other day though." She told him calmly. Lupin tensed up, clearly unsure as to how he could best test the waters.

"I suppose if I ask you who it was, you'd just say a birdie told you."

"No, I'd say a gargantuan lumbering black dog told me, just after the bugger tore through all my clothing and broke half my shit." Illy told him straightforwardly.

"Oh...in that case…"

"I've already arranged a meeting, the night of Buckbeak's execution you need to follow Harry and his friends out towards the edge of the forest; he'll be waiting for you."

"And I suppose that you'll be coming along as well?"

"Actually I'm going to have a fight with Snape, get upset, and run off a few hours early, so I'll be with him by then."

"Why the fight?" Draco suddenly spoke up.

"He'd be bloody well pissed at me if I just up and disappeared and I don't want him bringing this whole beautifully orchestrated plan down, so you're going to make sure he doesn't come after me when our fight is over, and then when I return later that night, he'll have no choice but to forgive me. He can't stand to hate someone for more than a few minutes." She told them matter-of-factly.

"I beg to differ." Lupin said flatly.

"So do I." Draco admitted.

"You deserve it…well your friends do at least, and it's not like you had enough of a backbone to tell them to stop tormenting him." She scolded.

"I see that you don't spare your teachers when you feel like reprimanding someone."

"Why should I? You four acted like a bunch of pricks."

"You certainly know a lot about his years at Hogwarts." Lupin said bitterly.

"We talk a lot…" Illy stopped short as she realized that she had no explanation for why Snape had taken such a liking to her. "…we just do." She finally said.

"Potter's dad's friends aren't the only people he stays mad at. He failed everything I turned in for a week after that incident, until I filled in some gaps you had left that is." Draco said spitefully.

"Draco, he forgave you, _and_ he didn't turn you in, any other teachers would have fed your ass to Fang if you pulled that." She reminded Draco.

"D'you think maybe we should get started?" Lupin suggested. Illy and Draco stopped their discussion and turned their attention towards Lupin. Both of them seemed to be debating how to react to the teacher, who now really had no right to tell them to be quiet, as they were giving him time that they could have been using for a million other things. Illy spoke first,

"No…I think we should finish talking about how I'm right." She decided.

"Bloody hell! If you want to fight with someone fight with the douche whose taking up all our time." Draco snapped. Lupin's eyes widened with shock as the two glared at one another. The seconds ticked by silently, and the teacher stood deathly still, waiting to see what would happen.

"Maybe we should all calm down." He suggested. Draco and Illy burst into laughter, clutching one another for support at the sight of Lupin's face. Finally Illy regained her composure.

"We were just screwing with you, I'm not that much of a bitch." Illy told him with a final chuckle. Lupin let the breath he had been holding escape his lungs with a grin.

"Sirius must have gotten a kick out of you." He told her.

"He's a perv just like you if that what you mean." Illy said.

"Lupin's not a perv you just dress like a hoebag." Draco taunted under his breath. Lupin smirked.

"Actually I just meant that you're a lot like a girl he used to go with." Lupin told her.

"Really? Hey Draco maybe I'll run away with the deranged sociopath." She teased.

"Anything's better than Potter." He replied.

"Yeah, just like her, it was this girl Adella. Blond girl in our year way back then, but she dumped him and ended up getting killed by you-know-who a few months before the end of the war, it was sort of odd though, she was his right hand man." Lupin finished sadly. Illy and Draco caught the soberness of the room and followed it. "Ask Snape about her some time. He probably knows what happened to her kid."

"She had a kid? And the dark lord just killed her." Illy asked.

"He killed James and Lilly too." Lupin reminded.

"But they weren't in league with him." Draco breathed. The room went silent, everyone's stomach was turning for one reason or another as the weight of the discussion settled in.

"Let's get started." Illy said finally. Lupin nodded and turned back to his desk.

"Chocolate first, then we'll start." He told them with a weak smile as he offered the candy. Illy took in the chocolate, but it didn't help. If the mood in the room was because of Dementors, she doubted that she'd have felt it anyway, they never bothered her before. They didn't even notice her, she lived her worst fears too often to notice when it was something else that made them come up.

"So, how is the defense against the dark arts teacher who knows absolutely nothing about extra sensory perception going to teach little old me how to become a skilled pentaparaphetic?"

"Well, we can start by doing routine exercises, and by reminding ourselves that we don't even know if you're at all psychic, let alone and pentaparaphetic."

"In that case is this necessary?" Draco mumbled.

"Yes it's necessary. Now the first thing that we need to go over is focus. You have to understand that just like your magic, none of this works on its own properly. Sure, every now and again you might black out and get a prophecy or hurl a vase at someone's head, but in order to really make use of your gifts; you're going to need to focus on controlling them."

"And how do I do that?"

"That's the part I'm not entirely qualified to tell you. I've done a lot of research, and I'm going to open up the closed section of the library to you so that you can do research on your own, but in honesty the most I've found thus far is that you need total control of your emotions, just focus on the task at hand and command yourself to perform. But then again, that's what you have to do to make most things in life work out isn't it?"

"Now that you're done with your fortune cookie bullshit, what do you want me to do?" "I figured that we could focus on telepathy. I need you to do your best not to use your knowledge of Draco's personality and Draco, you focus on a single distinct thought. We'll just try to take it from there." Lupin suggested with a fainthearted smile.

"Will proximity make it easier?" Draco asked as he rose from his chair to stand across from Illy.

"In theory all of this should work the same way that Oclumancy does. Trained mental art that some people can just do, and others have to train with magic for. The only difference being muggles can't pick up Oclumancy to its full extent without magical power, and there have been a few that managed to master telepathy and other paraphetic gifts. So, I guess my answer is, in theory yes." Lupin informed.

Illy narrowed her eyes as Draco moved within an inch of her body. His breath caught ever so slightly in his chest as she focused in on him. She could tell he was nervous, and it was hard not to take the easy way out and just use Oclumancy, which she was actually trained in, to figure out why. He took in a deep breath and began to mentally shout the thought he had been forming in his mind.

'Just l- a- the c-f-' She could pick up whispers at first. She focused harder on the image of Draco in her mind, she could feel the world around her blacking out. 'Just like at the c-f-' he repeated steadily. Illy's eyes swirled with a storm of color as she concentrated further on her target. 'Just like at the café!' he shouted to her finally.

'Jesus, you don't have to yell!' she shouted back.

'I thought it would help you, and it's keeping the rest of my mind quiet' he started. But then the thought that Draco had been avoiding all afternoon suddenly broke through, in a split second he could recall everything that the letter said and everything it meant, it was less than a second before he found his voice, "Illy why won't you just stop looking at it?" Draco asked out loud. Illy's eyes resumed their normal grey color rapidly. Her head felt fuzzy right away and her knees gave way beneath her. Draco reached out to catch her just before she fell, pulling her gently towards the chair.

"How'd I do?" She asked after a few seconds of both Lupin and Draco holding their breath, during which she had been trying to focus on what she had found buried in Draco's mind.

"As far as I could tell you did well." Lupin mumbled.

"Why do I always get so dizzy and tired after?" She asked crossly.

"My guess is that unless you're the one breaking the train of focus it would exhaust you to be suddenly cut off. This isn't a share the burden kind of thing. You do all the work, Draco just receives it."

"Thanks for making me feel useful." Draco mumbled under his breath.

"Look, I have to get to a study session with Herm and Jackquinn in ten, so just give me my homework or whatever and I'll see you next week okay?" Illy asked in a flushed and dazed voice. She could feel her heart still beating a bit too fast and her eyes focused in and out on the figure of Draco helping her up from her chair.

"Are you sure you don't want me to cancel? You can barely walk." Draco offered.

"I don't need help. And I'm not canceling." She snapped as she pulled her arm away from Draco.

"Illy, you're being a little bit hostile, are you sure you're okay?" Lupin questioned softly as he reached an arm out to stop her from leaving.

"I'm not fucking hostile, I just want to go." She barked at him as she dodged his arm and used her sleeve to wipe back a few tears that were trying to loose themselves.

"Killy, please, let me just explain it." Draco begged.

"There's nothing to explain, your business is your business, I just don't want to be late to our group. I'll talk to you tonight if you really must." She promised as she reached the door.

"Please, don't let it go, yell at me or something." Draco pleaded.

"What's going on? First she's impartial, then she's angry, and now she's bloody well crying explain this." Lupin demanded.

"Draco, can you please, I've really got to go." Illy choked out as she opened the door. The bit of red around her eyes had spread to her nose and cheeks.

"You can't leave." Lupin decided. He pointed his wand towards the door and it quickly snapped shut in Illy's face. Her face was already starting to puff up and her lashes were matted with water, she took in a deep breath and did best to keep any tears from spilling over onto her face.

"Go fuck yourself Lupin." She grumbled as she tapped the handle once with her own wand, threw the door open, and stormed out of the room.

"Draco, if she's getting emotional she could hurt herself. She's more susceptible to an accidental vision or anything else. She could bring the roof down on herself without even trying if she gets too upset."

"She'll be fine." Draco assured in a solemn tone. Lupin put his hands over his face and let out a sigh.

"What the hell happened?"

"She can talk to me…but she also sees whatever I do, I just thought of the wrong thing at the wrong moment."

"So what upset her that much?"

"Several things…I got a letter from home yesterday evening." Draco told Lupin uninterestedly, he slipped the yellowed parchment from his jacket and handed it over to the teacher.

_Dearest Draco,_

_ Daddums and I just got the paperwork back from Mr. Parkinson! You and Pansy will be officially betrothed on your eighteenth birthday. The date was later than we'd hoped for, because of her father of course, who insisted that his daughter not be told about our arrangements and be proposed to properly and all, but in return you will be given the McAllister estate which he was going to sell. It's a nice starter for the two of you, three stories, wine cellar, stables, lots of open land, good game for hunting, and fully staffed with elf's all just waiting for the two of you. _

_We also got back the paper work concerning your friend who's staying in the summer. Lucious won't get me a picture of her or anything; it's quite upsetting to say the least. He's so stubborn about the most trivial things. But anyway, the ministry seems to not have any information about her parents on record, she must have truly been a bastard child, but we have decided to treat her as though she was a direct descent of Vladimir and Annabelle, which would make her quite prestigious and respectable in blood. _

_ I must say that I am excited to see how she is. You should tell me more about her. I only hope that she has no wish to steal Pansy's right to wed you. But you said she was with another boy, so we'll trust that your plaything doesn't get in too deep. Only make sure you go over the schedule that I sent for the summer, I wouldn't want you and her being affectionate when guests are in, it might upset Pansy's father. _

_ Love you so much dear, take care, _

_ -Narcissa M. _

__**Son,**

** I am not going to tell your mother about who your friend is. Her parents were far less than reputable in my opinion, but I shall refrain from informing anyone other than you as such. Do be careful though, if I find out that you've done anything that could nullify our contract with the Parkinson's it will be the end of her. **

** Since she's dating Potter I think that it's best if she be hidden anytime guests are present. Dumbledore has assured me that she will be well behaved and often checked on, so keep your filthy pet in check or I will. Do well in school; remember your family honor, **

** Lucious Malfoy **

**Post Script: The disgusting beast from your class is scheduled for execution. **

"Do you want to talk about this?" Lupin asked Draco as he handed back the sheet of parchment. Draco quietly tucked the letter away and gathered his book bag.

"Didn't you hear her? She said tonight if I must." Draco mumbled.

"I mean do you want to talk to someone about your parents. Your father mostly…"

"I never want to talk about him."

"He's suggesting that you and Illy are going to spend the whole summer…well, you know, doing…that." Lupin finished strenuously.

"If it was up to me we would." Draco said with a wink as he looked up at the painted ceiling above him.

"I'm serious Draco, I can talk to Dumbledore if your want, or Snape, someone."

"I asked Snape for help with something important once…I don't need help from anyone. But thanks none-the-less." He let out with a sigh as he too made his way for the door.

"Draco, she shouldn't be mad at you about this. None of it's your fault…except maybe the Buckbeak part…but still."

"She's not mad at me…I just wish she was." He told Lupin wistfully as he pulled open the door and disappeared behind it.

Draco sat beside Illy staring attentively into the flames before them. She had calmed down since earlier that afternoon, but he still felt terrible. Little chutes of fire cracked and jumped for the top of the fireplace only to be cast back down.

"Draco, I'm not mad at you…you really don't need to do this."

"Trust me, I want to." He told her diminutively.

"You practically swallowed the tail end of that sentence, I high doubt that you really want to."

"He's my dad. I can burn his letters if I want." He told her firmly before crossing the little distance to the fire and tossing in a handful of letters. The parchment burned up almost instantly before him, his lips creased into a reflexive grimace, which only made the frown further itself, he had thought that the sight would make him smile. He hoped that it would, but in the end he stood feeling less relived of a burden and more like someone had ripped out his innards. Illy's breathing was shallow and silent as she watched him stare intently into the flames. His long hair fell into the front of his face, hiding any bit of his stormy blue eyes she might have seen. She bit her lip and glanced around the room, almost afraid that someone might see what she was going to do. She sucked in a singular deep breath and focused on Draco intently. His mind was quiet, how it should be, she thought to herself. His thoughts should be private and soft and quiet, she decided as she prodded for a current whisper that she could capture and listen in on.

'Be still…breath…suck it all in…be quiet…she won't notice.' Draco chanted to himself softly. Illy's chest fluttered as she felt the tears from Draco's eyes slide warmly down her cheeks, stinging her face as they went. His frustration bubbled over into her more and more as she listened to him speak, her palms were growing sweaty in the silence of reality, she had to say something, 'Illy will notice if you don't.' She took the cue and dismissed herself peacefully from a mind for the first time. Lupin was right, she wasn't dizzy or tired.

"I thought this would feel different." He said quietly after a long silence.

"He's still your father. He's a part of you; you can't hate yourself for not wanting to burn everything he's written to you in the last year." Illy did her best to hide the movement that her hands made as she checked her cheeks for tears, but there were none, there wasn't even sweat on her palms.

"I wish I could hate him…I'm better at hating me than hating him, that's not even fair."

"Come here." She finally instructed. Draco turned almost immediately to go sit with her, resting his head on her lap.

"Will you stay with me tonight? I'll buy you another library." He promised childishly.

"I still haven't gotten the first one." She teased while she played with his hair. "Draco I can't fix the problem, only you can, there are some battles in life that no one can help you with, and your decisions concerning how you feel about your father is one of the battles you need to go alone."

"You might not be able to fix it…but you can make me feel better."

"If you just want a momentary fix anyone would do." She told him with a roll of her eyes. Draco sat up abruptly and turned to face her.

"Anyone might make me feel less lonely, but only you can make me feel better." He promised as he leaned his head onto her shoulder. She sighed and let her head rest on top of his while they both dozed in front of the warm fire.

_"Hey silly, stop chickening out!" a fluid cool voice called from Illy's throat, or whomever's throat she happened to be. It was a dream, she could tell already. Hogwarts' library looked almost the same as it had just yesterday afternoon, but she could see where a few racks of extra text books stood, sporting different shapes and titles for things like herbology and defense against the dark arts. She was in a girl's body, she could tell from the high voice and the way the girl accentuated the swagger of her hips. _

_ "I'm not chickening out, I just need to study more for the potions test." A young sniveling voice called from a desk in the far back corner of the library. She chuckled to herself and walked towards the boys voice quickly. _

"_You couldn't fail that test if you tried, and neither could I, and we're partners, there's nothing to worry about Sevvy." She assured with a roll of her eyes. Severus Snape looked up from the book her was pouring over, his face was even thinner, his eyes beadier, and his hair was just slightly longer and more unruly around the tips. _

"_I wish you wouldn't call me that in public." He hissed. _

"_We're not in public. No one is enough of a twat to really stay out of the forbidden forest; even Sirius and Lupin are down there." She whined as she tugged at his bony hand. _

"_That's two more reasons not to go if you ask me." Severus grunted. The girl would not be deterred from her quest to see whatever it was. _

"_I'm not with Sirius anymore, obviously, and James is off snogging Lily so he won't even act like a jackass." She promised. _

"_What if we get caught?" He protested as she shoved things into his bag. _

"_We'll get a detention, so what? We'll be serving it with the rest of the bloody fucking school so who cares?" _

"_I care. I have a perfect record in this school Adella, and I know that doesn't mean a thing to you, but…but…but its just important ok?" _

"_You won't get in trouble, but if we don't hurry we're going to miss it!" She urged as she pulled him up from the desk. _

"_I don't even care. Who wants to see a almost dead unicorn stagger to the edge of the forest and let out its final bleating farewell to the earth?" He asked in exasperation before looking up from his feet to stare into her eyes. His face went blank for a moment. _

"_Oh…right, you would. I don't get how someone like you can love watching things die so much." He said with a sigh as they started out of the library hand in hand. _

"_Guess it's in my blood." She said with a smile and a shrug. Snape stopped moving and pulled her towards him softly. _

"_Don't say that. When we have kids they won't love watching things die, and when you say that it's like guaranteeing it."_

"_How about you don't ever say we're going to have kids, you know he won't let me do that. And besides I was just kidding. And besides, I don't want to see it die, I just want to know what killed it that's all." She assured him as she brushed her the back of her hand across his cheek._

"_One day he won't have authority in the matter." Snape promised. _

"_You're still hung up on that crap Lilly fed you huh? Face it Sevvy, you're going to have to join him one-hundred percent or have him kill you, and what good will that do? And besides, he's just protective of me is all, that's nothing to hold against him." She chided. _

"_We're probably too late by now anyway, let's just go study." Snape resigned sadly. _

"_Hey, don't get like that, I hate it when you're sad." She told him with a smile. "And whenever you get like this there's only one way to fix it," She said seductively. _

"_Oh really, and that would be?" Snape asked with irritated obliviousness. She rolled her eyes and pulled him into a kiss. _

_Illy was fighting against her dream as hard as she could while they picked up pace through the hall and headed for the prefects bathroom. Adella gave the password to the door and stepped inside, pulling Severus along behind her. He slowly unhooked her cloak and started to unbutton her shirt, stopping after every few seconds to kiss her and nibble at her neck and collar bone. _

"_You're so slow Sevvy." She finally said with a giggle. Severus stopped and stepped back, half joking and half serious. _

"_Forgive me for trying to be romantic." He teased. She narrowed her eyes and pushed Severus against a wall, before she began to practically rip the clothing from his body. In a matter of seconds he was down to beltless pants and she stopped to look him in the eye. _

"_What if I don't want you to be romantic right now?" She asked him darkly. _

"_Then I won't waste my breath." He told her before he began to strip her with the same ferocity. _

"ENOUGH!" Illy yelled out to wake herself.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked her quickly. Illy tried to look around in the dark to find out where his voice was coming from, but without windows the dungeon's were pitch-black at night.

"What the fuck are you doing in my bed?" She snapped.

"You're in my bed number one, and number two, why the hell are you having kinky dreams about our potions professor calling you Adella?" Draco seethed. Illy was silent, she moused away from Draco's side of the bed and curled into a ball.

"I was close enough for you to see that dream then…" She muttered under her breath.

"No, actually I've seen all of your dreams since that night in the hospital wing. I just didn't tell you because I thought you'd get mad.1" He confessed.

"I think that the Adella from the dream was the same on Lupin told us about earlier today." She said to keep herself from screaming at Draco.

"It's fine if you're mad, but just know that it's not my fault." He told her as he tried to pull her closer to him.

"Draco how in the fuck did I end up in this bed?" She asked with irritation.

"You fell asleep, and I can get into the girls dorm, and then I was catching bits of your dream whenever I touched you, and I couldn't just leave you there, so I brought you here." He explained. "And don't act like I stripped you down and took advantage of you in your sleep either, because all of your clothes are still on and so are mine, save shoes, those could have fucked up my sheets."

"If my shoes are dirty enough to fuck up your sheets than the women you've had in here have certainly ruined them by now." She retorted with a roll of her eyes. They were both quiet for a few moments before Draco's soft question rang out through the dark,

"Do you think your other dreams are maybe just bad dreams too? I mean like the ones with me in the future. Maybe it's just on your mind and it's not a prophecy or anything like that." He suggested.

"I don't know Draco. I guess I'd have to ask Snape if it ever happened, but I'm not feeling like either of us will want to talk about that dream specifically so it'll be an awkward subject." She replied softly. Draco moved closer to her, resting his face on her shoulder blade.

"Try not to dream anything too weird this time." He teased as he kissed the fabric of her shirt and let her fall back into a light slumber.

_She let out a small whelp from the feel of the fire that was dragging itself across the back of her leg and then sealed her mouth shut again. She was learning quickly to control herself. Sir's newest game made it essential. He had bound her wrists and ankles with a thin metal wire. Each of them spread out so that she was constantly on her hands and knees, unable to move, as he had also bound the wires to small metal wrings in the ground. The more she pulled against them the worse it hurt. Her wrists and ankles were crusted over with blood from the first day. The thin appearance of the wire gave off and illusion of fragility. It was not fragile at all, but it was made of several pieces of wire wound together so pulling at the makeshift cuffs produced a serrated effect on her soft body parts. Sir had been using anything he could think of to cause enough short-term pain to make her jump or pull or fall over so that the cuffs rubbed off more skin. He had a hot poker today._

_ "You're faring better and better you filthy cunt." He smiled to himself. Some part of him enjoyed making her learn things. He prided himself as a teacher. "I'm going to make you so good at this you won't ever move unless I say." He laughed. She only nodded her head and bit her lip nervously. Waiting for the next gentle brush from the glowing red instrument. It touched down on her spine and she bit through her lip trying to be still. She spit her mouthful of blood onto the ground. _

_ "What's that?" Sir demanded as he lifted up her chin. "It's unbecoming of a lady to spit. You wouldn't know that because you're a common whore, but really, in my presence you can at least drool." He told her sharply as he placed a dish beneath her. She let the blood fall down. Slick and mixed with saliva it dripped and when a big enough drop rolled down the string from her mouth it would stick to the bowl and the rest would come up, only a few inches from her mouth; like a child playing with their own spit. Sir was moving around behind her. Taking something from the small leather bag he brought in with him. _

_ "My boy has been down to see you several times lately." He told her. "Even though I punished him. You must be seducing him. I don't see how my purebred son can be interested in something as filthy as you but he is. So I've decided the best way to solve the problem is to make you force him to leave." He explained as he walked around from behind her to stand directly in her line of vision. "So I brought this. You'll remember that he is my child, and then you will know he wants you only for what I use you." Sir's lips curved into the smile that made her sick as he placed a standing photo of young sir on the ground where she could see it. The young blond child was practicing with his wand. Stunning small animals like squirrels and rabbits. _

_ "He kills things too." Sir breathed in her ear before he walked back behind her and crouched down to his knees. Seconds later he pushed into her and she let out a silent and small cry. He pushed as hard as he could, deep inside her. She tried to close her eyes but couldn't take them off the photo as Sir moved faster. Her head started to hurt and she was blacking out slowly, she just kept staring at the picture. Promising herself young sir would never hurt her. She could feel noises against her ears, and not just Sir's grunts and snickers. Something was buzzing in her ears and she could feel the noises landing but not quite making it inside. The same feeling over and over, a dull drumming one syllable something. It was getting closer and louder as Sir was getting nearer his release. Then the word came through clear, distinct. She felt it rush in through her ears and all through her head, her bones, her blood, and out of her mouth,_

_ "NO!" She screamed once and the picture flew from its place in front of her to the far wall, shattering and igniting all at once. Sir's eyes were closed as he had just peaked but the shatter distracted him. He looked at the small heap of flame and withdrew himself. _

_ "What did you do?" He demanded. She was silently. Only staring intently at the flames licking up the last of the curling photo paper. "Tell me what you did right now you filthy cretin!" She was still silent. She fixed more narrowly at the flames and they began to grown, stretching up towards the roof with all their might. "That quite enough!" Sir reprimanded her. "Aguamenti" He demurely commanded as he watched flames die. He turned back to her. "So, you think this makes you any better than a muggle?" He asked her with a sneer. "It doesn't. Now your just a filthy mudblood." With that he turned to leave her there, still naked, and still bound._

Illy woke up without much of a start. She looked over her shoulder for Draco but he had already left. It was a calming feeling, waking up in his bed, even if he wasn't there. She felt safe and protected, just because it was his bed. After a few moments of dwelling on this little thought she sat up and began to wipe the sleep from her eyes. Everyone else was still in his bed, sleeping through the dark hours of morning. Illy got up and headed to her room to change for her morning run. At the same time, Draco was coming to the end of his morning stroll, already in his robes for the morning; as he was prepared for the impending discussion to last a decent amount of time. His fingers rapped on Snape's door impatiently.

1 Draco tells Illy that he has been sharing her dreams.


End file.
